


Once Upon a Time on Hellaween

by LonesomeBard



Series: Obscura Trilogy [2]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 13:35:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 67,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8163775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonesomeBard/pseuds/LonesomeBard
Summary: Follows the events in 'Obscura'. I recommend reading that before starting this story. Max is trying to process all the traumatic events that she's endured due to her now lost ability to rewind and travel in time. All while trying to be in relationship with now alive Chloe, rebuild a lost friendship with Victoria, who's rediscovering her own ability and deal with a returning foe.





	1. Perfect Reality

** **

**October 22, 2013, nine days to Halloween**

_Don't give up on me._

That was the final request of Victoria Chase to her dearest friend Max Caulfield in another time and place, just before Max had focused on a picture and eradicated four years of friendship in order to save herself and her soulmate, Chloe Price from death.

The Victoria Chase in this time and place didn't make it exactly easy to honor that request.

"Caulfield, you really should do the merciful thing and drive that rust bucket straight to the junkyard!" Victoria said as she stepped out from her BMW. Courtney and Taylor, who stepped out from the passenger's side, chuckled.

Max smiled to her as she went on crutches to her truck, opened the door, threw the crutches on the passenger's side and sat down. "Don't worry, Vic. This old lady has plenty of miles ahead of her."

Victoria frowned upon the nickname. "Only my friends get to call me 'Vic', _Maxine."_

"'Max', not 'Maxine'. I make no exceptions," Max said, still smiling. "But if we're done talking about my truck's roadworthiness, I really need to be somewhere. Always a pleasure talking to you, _Vic_ ," she said as she closed the door and turned the ignition.

The small block V8 of the Ranchero responded promptly and the low growl of the engine covered whatever Victoria was still trying to say while shaking her finger at Max. Max accelerated away, leaving the three young women standing at the parking lot.

"Well, you really showed me, who's boss," a voice said from the passenger's seat.

Max turned her head to see a slightly older Victoria sitting next to her.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Make some low brow remark about your Bimmer?" Max said. "I thought that it was me not giving a shit about what you said that got to you."

"Oh, a little taunt never hurts anybody," Victoria said casually.

"Oh yeah?" Max objected. "Had I not come to second thoughts and reversed the taking of the picture, when I made the bucket of paint drop on you, you would've trashed my room."

"But it was such a nice blouse. And had I known then it was you who made the bucket drop on me, I would've trashed your room anyway," Victoria said slightly piqued.

"Well, you were blocking the entrance and wouldn't move when I asked nicely," Max said equally piqued.

"I guess I had it coming," Victoria looked down and grinned. She shifted her position on the seat "You really should've thrown the crutches in the back. They're really pressing my thighs."

"How's that possible?" Max asked. "You're just a projection of my subconscious, based on the memories I have of you, when we were friends."

"Yes I am, and that brings us to the question why is your subconscious projecting me to have these discussions with you?" Victoria asked. "I think the time travel, time reversing and your traumatic experiences are starting to take a toll on your psyche. I really think you should seek professional help or at least talk to someone."

"I don't need anyone's help!" Max said sternly. "I can deal with this by myself."

"Yourself and a six-pack of Breezer, you mean?" Victoria asked disapprovingly. "I kept my piece about your drinking, when we lived together but apparently some things stay the same no matter how much you change the course of history."

Max's earlobes turned to red with that remark. "That's it! I don't have to listen to this!" Max blurted angrily and turned on the car stereo. 'Everything's Fine' by Kemopetrol started playing on the speakers.

"Oh, that's very mature, Maxine!" Victoria shouted over the music.

"'Max', never-!" Max yelled back but Victoria was already gone.

* * *

**Chloe: Yo, Maximus! Where U at?**

**Max: Almost there. Got held up.**

**Chloe: Hurry up, dude! I'm starving.**

Chloe put her mobile phone on the table and took another sip from her coffee.

"You want a refill, honey?" Joyce Madsen asked from her daughter, holding a coffee pot in her hand.

"Sure, mom," Chloe answered. "Max'll be here soon."

Joyce poured fresh coffee in Chloe's mug. "It's nice to see you and Max rekindling after so long time."

"Me too," the blue haired punk girl concurred. "I mean, it was a dramatic reunion but I'm glad Max is on the mend."

"I heard she's off the wheelchair?"

"Yup, she's now on crutches," Chloe confirmed. "If her rehab goes well, she should be on her feet by Christmas."

"It was nice of David and you to fix that truck for her," Joyce said. "Although I don't quite understand why you chose such a big truck for her."

"Trust me, that truck is pure Max," Chloe assured.

"Do I hear my name being said?" Max asked from the diner door.

"Yo Maxaroni! We were just talking about the Maxmobile," Chloe greeted the small brunette.

Max smirked at the name. In another time, where Chloe had been dead, Max had named the truck after her, but now when Chloe was alive that didn't feel appropriate. Therefore Chloe had come up with the new name, which still required some getting used to.

"Hello, Joyce." Max gave a hug to the older woman.

"Hello Max," Joyce answered and helped Max to the booth seat. "Good to see you again on your feet."

"Well, at least one of them," Max said and grinned.

"What will you ladies have?" Joyce asked as she filled Max's cup.

"I'd like some of your delicious waffles, please," Max said.

"I'll have the usual," Chloe added.

"Will I put that on your tab as usual?" Joyce asked.

"Actually I thought I'd pay in cash." Chloe surprised her mother. "Turns out that I have extra cash at my disposal since I quit smoking," she said and looked at the nicotine patch on her arm.

"Well, in that I case I'll get started with your orders." Joyce walked behind the counter.

Chloe leaned over the table to give Max a kiss but Max withdrew instinctively. Chloe returned back on her side slightly disappointed.

"We talked about this," Max said quietly to her partner. "I'd really like to wait until we move to Seattle before we go public with our relationship."

"Yeah, we talked about it and I still don't get it," Chloe retorted. "I mean what's the big difference?"

"We've just both been through a lot," Max said to her. "You've just returned from the dead and I basically have to relive four years, - and to learn to walk again. I just wouldn't want to complicate things any further at this point."

Chloe didn't say anything. She took another sip of her coffee and moped.

"Oo, did I make my little Chloe sad?" Max babbled, grinning. "C'mon, I'd like nothing more than to be all over you right now but let's finish breakfast first and the go to somewhere more private."

"Promise?" Chloe lifted her eyebrow.

"If you'll be a good girl and eat your breakfast," Max said impishly.

* * *

Victoria was sitting at her desk in her room. She was trying to finish an essay for the afternoon class but her mind was drifting off. Different things went through her mind but most of the time she was thinking about Max Caulfield.

Victoria couldn't really understand why she was thinking about that nosy hipster girl. It was the change in how Max reacted to her. After Max had been shot she had taken a completely different attitude towards Victoria. The former reserved attitude had changed to a more forthright one.

Victoria knew that traumatic events could change people but this was something different. Max addressed her like she had known her for years. And not just like an acquaintance, but like they were close, almost intimate.

And the thing was that she didn't know how to deal with it. She had already started to warm up on Max after what had gone down and she had gone to visit her to the hospital with Kate. She practically had lowered her guard in front of Max but she was taken aback by Max's unexpected offer to be all ears, if she had something on her mind.

After that, Victoria had returned to her old manners towards Max, but the hipster girl didn't go back to being passive aggressive. Instead Max responded to Victoria's bitchiness with taunt, and she seemed to have developed a knack of knowing exactly how far she could go with her taunt, like good friends do. And Victoria felt overwhelmed by it all. Deep inside, she appreciated Max's talent as a photographer and really wanted to make friends with her but she didn't dare to lower her defenses because she was already feeling defenseless with Max.

Victoria shook the thought out of her mind and decided concentrate on more current matters. She walked to her closet and took out her Halloween costume. She had decided to go to the Vortex Club Halloween party as Bayonetta. She had just received the last items that were still missing from the costume, including the pistol heel boots and the eyeglasses. She'd win the best costume title hands down.

Victoria took the costume out of the closet and walked closer to the window to look at it in the daylight. It had cost a pretty penny but it looked fabulous. She looked out of the window. There were a few students on the front yard of the dorm building but in addition to that, there was a man standing by a tree. Victoria gasped as she took a closer look at him. It was the same man that she had seen at the Everyday Heroes exhibition. A reflection from someone's phone screen hit her eyes, making her blink. When she opened her eyes, the man had disappeared like on the previous time.

 _Oh my god! It's back!_ Victoria dropped the costume on the floor and sat down as the anxiety made her heart pound.

* * *

"Y'know, I'm a bit envious about your truck," Chloe said to Max.

"How so?" the brunette asked curiously.

"Mine doesn't have a full length sofa as seats," the punk girl remarked.

Max snickered. They were lying spooned on the seat of Max's truck. A blanket was covering their half-naked bodies while their extracted clothes were on the floor of the truck cabin. A layer of steam on the truck windows blurred the view to the outside world.

After having hastily finished the breakfast, Max and Chloe had taken Max's truck. Chloe had told Max to drive to the old junkyard. Max had asked if Chloe was sure about that, considering that Rachel Amber's body had been found there. Chloe had just told that it was time to get some good memories for a change.

Once there, the two women had swiftly removed their clothing and begun to explore the familiar but always so fascinating extents of their bodies.

Chloe was undoubtedly the more experienced one of the two and she let that show, making Max feel herself wanted and beautiful. The punk had brought the small brunette on the verge of climax several times, before letting her go off in a sequence of orgasms, making her spasm vigorously and then fall limp on top of her lover.

Max, on the other hand, had embraced the fact that she was more inexperienced and concentrated in exploring her partner's body and discovering, what she liked. Chloe had rewarded Max's discoveries with approving sighs of pleasure. Before long, the exploration had culminated in the punk arching her back and trembling at the peak of her orgasm.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" Max asked her partner.

"Not today you have," Chloe answered with a smile on her face as she fondled the chestnut hair of her lover.

"I love you so much that I'd rewind all the way to the big bang to get to you." Max placed a kiss on Chloe's lips.

"In that case, I love you so much that I'd go through all the seven terraces of Purgatory to get to you," Chloe said, kissing Max back.

Chloe shifted to a more comfortable position on the truck seat. As spacious as it might be, the cabin of a Ford Ranchero was by no means a bedroom with a queen sized bed.

"Speaking of, how is it with your powers?" Chloe asked?

"Can't either rewind or focus," Max answered. "Whatever it was that caused the timeline to just continue after Nathan's shooting instead of fast forwarding me back four years into the future caused me also to lose my abilities. - And frankly, I'm glad."

"I bet," Chloe said. "Is there anything you miss from that time?"

"Well, I kinda hate the fact that I have to wait almost four years, before I get to see the conclusion of the second season of Legends of Tomorrow." Max grinned. "I also hate the idea of having to go through the spring semester here all over again. The only consolation is that I know all the exam questions beforehand."

Max turned and rested her head on Chloe's chest.

"It feels funny to be 18 years old again," Max said. "I mean, from the inside I still feel like that older me. Four years doesn't sound much, but I went through a lot during those years."

"You just have to use your experiences to your advantage," Chloe said, still stroking Max's hair. "Me, I'm just glad to be alive again. I mean, knowing that I was dead for four years puts a whole lotta things into new perspective..."

"...And it's not just that," Chloe continued after pausing for a moment. "I got my head full of memories from that week that never happened. And not just what we went through together. I know every single fucking outcome of every possible choice, like I had a fuckton of game saves in my head. I'm having a hard time keeping my head together with all this shit."

"I can relate to that even though I apparently don't know the half of it," Max said.

"I sure picked a hella time to quit smoking," Chloe snorted. "My jaw is aching from all the nicotine gum I've chewed."

Max thought about whether she should share her own issues with Chloe. Seeing the older Victoria was just the tip of the iceberg. Because of her rewinding Max had never had anyone to share her experiences with. She had almost died as a result of three very traumatizing events and trying to comprehend her now lost abilities didn't really help. Chloe would probably understand what Max was going through but she had her own issues to sort out so Max didn't want bother her with her own stuff.

"Whatcha thinking?" Chloe asked.

"Oh nothing special," Max said quickly and changed the subject. "So are you still going to dress up as a zombie for Halloween?"

"Hoooyeah! I've been watching the 'Thriller' video hella many times to get the costume and make up right," Chloe confirmed. "What about you? You've been awfully secretive about your costume."

"Because it will be a surprise," Max grinned.

"Can't you give a little hint?"

"Umm, no."

"Ooo, c'mon! Pretty please?" Chloe put on her best puppy eyes.

"No!" Max chuckled. "You have to wait until Halloween."

"Oh, I'm going to come to haunt you every night until you tell me," Chloe said with a creepy voice.

"Oh, you waived that right by not coming to haunt me once in four years," Max taunted. "Besides, you can't do it anymore."

"Screw you, hippie!" Chloe frowned.

"Oh, is that a promise?" Max asked impishly and twirled her finger around Chloe's nipple.

The punk's frown changed to a sly smile. "Well, it depends..." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not telling you my Halloween costume," Max said.

"Well, can't blame a girl for trying," Chloe gave in.

"Anyhoo, I have to go to class, so we'd better get dressed," Max rose on a half sitting position.

"Boo, hiss!" Chloe tried to object.

"Don't you have some assignments to do for Arcadia High before the spring semester begins?" Max asked.

"Don't remind me!" Chloe snorted.

"Well, if we're both going to get our GEDs next spring, it means we have to bust our asses," Max said.

"All the crazy shit love makes you do." Chloe reached up to kiss Max.

"Let's get dressed and vent the car," Max said. "The cabin is a bit - steamy." She winced quietly from the pain of her wounded leg as she stepped out of the truck.

"How's the leg?" Chloe asked as she pulled her jeans on.

"A little better," Max answered. "I'm able to move it but it's still a long way from being able to put some weight on it."

"You'll get there," Chloe said. "Trust me; you'll be dancing with me on prom night."

"Prom night..." Max hadn't really thought the whole thing before. On one hand, nothing would've pleased her more than to have Chloe as her prom date. On the other hand, Max wasn't sure, if she would be ready to go public with her relationship with Chloe here in Arcadia Bay.

It wasn't about her feelings towards Chloe. She loved the blue haired punk and wanted to spend rest of her life with her. Deep inside, Max knew that it was about self image. On the outside she acted that she didn't give a damn what others thought of her. On the inside she hated being labeled. She just wanted to be who she was, regardless of her style or who she was in relationship with. Sure, she had become more confident because all that she had been through but on the other hand it had left her more vulnerable.

Max felt anguished. She knew that Chloe would've wanted to go public right away and she couldn't understand, why Max hesitated. Max feared that she might lose Chloe because of her hesitation.

Chloe looked at the small brunette, who was putting on her sweatshirt. She knew why Max had gone silent all of a sudden and deep inside it hurt a bit but she also understood why Max hesitated and she was ready to give her time. Chloe felt maybe more hurt about the fact that for some reason Max didn't want to confide in her, even though something clearly was bothering her. Chloe didn't want to push her though. Max would open up, when she would be ready for it.

"You ready?" Chloe finally asked.

"Yeah. - You?" Max asked back.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Chloe confirmed and moved over to the passenger's seat.

"Let's go then." Max limped to the driver's seat and started the engine.

* * *

Victoria was sitting in the classroom and waiting for the lesson to start. Mrs. Hoida had returned from her sick leave so she would be giving the lectures in the English literature again.

She had scribbled one word into her notebook that she was now decorating with curlicues. The word 'SPIRIT' read in capital letters on the empty page. In her childhood, Victoria had been able to see and interact with spirits of dead people. She had been bullied about this in school and she had undergone therapy sessions and mood medication to get rid of the "imaginary friends" as her parents and therapist described them.

All this had also made Victoria the tough and manipulative bitch, which mantel she now bore with pride. She had a thick shell which wasn't easily penetrated.

Victoria had not seen spirits since her therapy ended - until now. That man she had seen in San Francisco had followed her here. There was something familiar with him but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She had figured that the return of her ability was somehow related to events earlier this month, when Nathan Had shot Max. What had unraveled as a result of that had been an emotional ordeal for many, her included.

But those events alone wouldn't have caused her ability to re-emerge. It had also something to do with the fact that two persons had begun to penetrate the tough shell that she had built around her. The other sat down at the desk next to hers.

"Hello Victoria, how are you today?" Kate Marsh asked cheerfully.

"Hello Kate," Victoria answered shortly and let out a hint of a smile. She couldn't quite understand why Kate would want have anything to do with her at all after what she had done to her. _Maybe it's all about 'love thy neighbor',_ she thought.

"Looks like Max is going to be late again," Kate remarked.

"Sometimes I feel that she doesn't quite understand the concept of time," Victoria said. "Um, can I ask you a question?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Sure." Kate smiled.

"Does Christianity recognize the concept of spirits?"

Kate looked at Victoria puzzled. "Well, some denominations acknowledge the existence of spirits as beings that are tied to earth although they do not live on the material plane, while others believe that they are souls lingering in an interim state before continuing to heaven. Why'd you ask?"

"What's your opinion?" Victoria asked, ignoring Kate's question.

"I believe that when someone dies, the soul doesn't stay here but goes to Purgatory," Kate answered. "Why this sudden interest to afterlife?"

"Oh I'm just doing an essay about spiritism," Victoria answered.

"On that I really can't help you," the Christian girl said.

"Well, thanks anyway." The blonde smiled and turned to face the classroom door as it suddenly opened.

Max was at the door, she looked at the teacher's desk and to her relief found it to be empty. She quickly limped to a vacant desk. Just as she sat down, Mrs. Hoida stepped into the room and walked to her desk.

"That was pretty close call, Max," Kate whispered to the brunette.

"Tell me about it," Max whispered back. "With the crutches it takes forever to get here from the parking lot."

Victoria didn't say anything but she took a closer look at Max. The brunette was glowing in such a manner that it could mean just one thing. _Caulfield, you little minx, you just got laid, didn't you?_ Victoria raised her eyebrow and smirked. _A little lunchtime sex, but with whom?_

* * *

Seattle was a big enough city that there was something going on at any night of the week. Yonders was a small club in the Capitol Hill district. It was a venue for small live bands to perform.

Janice Smith was standing by the stage. One of her favorite bands, Hazy Lane was playing there that night. Hazy Lane was a young band, which played old skool grunge. Janice was having a blast. She wished that her good friend, Max Caulfield could be here to share this moment with her but she had gone to Blackwell for her senior year.

Janice was also studying photography like Max. Her entry had been chosen to represent her school for the Everyday Heroes contest. She had half expected to see also Max there but instead there had been an entry by another Blackwell student.

It had turned out that the student, Victoria Chase, was also originally from Seattle, so they'd hung out together during the weekend and promised to keep in touch.

Janice picked up her phone, took a picture of the playing band and opened the chat application. Max wasn't online but Victoria appeared to be so she sent the picture to her.

**Janjan: Check this out! Wish U were here.**

**QnB: Ugh, grunge. Not my style. U having a good time?**

**Janjan: B)**

**QnB: Well, I have to finish this paper for tomorrow but have fun! :)**

**Janjan: I will. TTYL.**

Janice put away her phone and took another sip of her drink. She was still 18 and therefore not legally allowed to consume alcohol but luckily she looked exactly like her older sister, whose ID she was flashing when she bought drinks.

She'd already had a few and was feeling a bit lightheaded. Her vision became blurry. _This doesn't feel right,_ she thought. _But I've only had a few._ The whole room started swinging around her.

"Hey, Randy." Janice leaned over to the young man next to her. "I'm not feeling too good. I think I'm gonna call it a night."

"Want me to walk you home?" Randy asked.

"Naah, you just stay and enjoy the rest of the gig. I'll be fine," Janice said with a slight slur in her voice.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," Randy said.

"Sure." Janice turned around and headed for the exit. She had trouble staying up due to her condition and the crowd. She stepped outside of the club and took a few breaths of outside air.

Janice's apartment was just a few blocks away, so she started to totter along the sidewalk. _Jeez, I'm totally wasted, I wonder..._ She almost tripped on the ground but someone grabbed her.

Janice tried to resist to no avail, as she was lead to a car waiting on the side of the street. She was laid on the backseat and then she lost her consciousness.

* * *

Max sat in her truck. She was parked at a gas station outside Arcadia Bay town limits. Waves of anxiety were washing through her. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Julia Bennett pushing her gun against Max's abdomen and pull the trigger. She needed something to help her sleep, so she had snuck out of the dormitory and driven here.

Max looked at her ID. She had rigged her birth date to look like she was born in 1992 instead of 1995. On the few occasions, she had used it to buy alcohol, it had passed. _Being 22 had its perks,_ she thought as she stepped out of the truck.

Max limped into the gas station shop using just one crutch to support her wounded leg. She hung a shopping basket on her free arm and went to the beer and wine section. She took a six-pack of Breezer and put it into the basket.

"One six-pack, Max?" Victoria's voice said next to her. "You sure that's enough?"

"Thank you for your concern, Vic," Max hissed to the Victoria projected by her subconscious. "Now would leave me alone?"

"Oh, I would, but I think your subconscious - or is it your conscience is trying to tell you something," Victoria said to her.

"Maybe I don't want to hear what my conscience is trying to tell me," Max hissed back and limped to the counter.

She put the six-pack on the counter and waited for the shopkeeper to come there.

"May I see some ID?" the shopkeeper asked.

Max showed her ID. The shopkeeper glanced at the ID and then Max for a while, then scanned the six-pack and put it into a paper bag.

"That'll be $7.95," the shopkeeper said.

Max paid her purchase, took the paper bag and limped to her truck. She set the paperback on the seat next to her and then glanced at Victoria who was now sitting on the passenger side and watching her disapprovingly.

"Oh, kiss my belfie!" Max retorted to the projection of her own mind. She started the truck and drove away without noticing a white, banged up truck that was parked in the shadow.

* * *

Chloe watched as Max drove away. She had a melancholy look on her face. Even though Chloe had returned from the dead, she still felt the same kind of responsibility over Max as she had as the small brunette's guardian angel. In a way Chloe could still sense Max's distress. That was why she had driven to the Blackwell dormitory and seen the brunette leave on her truck.

Chloe had followed Max to the Gas station. She didn't need to guess why the brunette had come here. She had parked in the shadow and waited for Max to do her business. She didn't follow her, though. She just sat in her truck and stared into the darkness. She took another nicotine gum from the packet and put it in her mouth. _Sure picked a hella time to quit smoking._

**To be continued...**


	2. First Encounters

**October 23, 2013, eight days to Halloween**

_Bling!_

_Bling!_

_Bling!_

Max opened one eye and immediately closed it as the brightness intensified the throbbing in her head. She groped her phone from the bedside table and put it on her pillow. She opened her eye again and squinted at the display.

**Chloe: Rise and shine, sleepyhead!**

**Chloe: Yo, Maximal!**

**Chloe: U awake?**

**Max: Fhdjshsgahfdslk**

**Chloe: I take that as a no.**

**Chloe: Time to wake up. Let's get some grub at 2 Whales. I'll pick U up.**

**Max: K. But need to shower first.**

**Chloe: Sure, C U in 20.**

Max forced her both eyes open. Her head pounded like a jackhammer. _Ugh, I'm out of practice,_ she thought as she forced herself into a sitting position. She stood up, took a glass from the desk and hopped with one leg to a cabinet. Max opened the cabinet and opened a jar containing her prescription painkillers. _This stuff should take care of the headache too._ She took one tablet and put it in her mouth. She then filled the glass with water from a bottle and washed the tablet down.

Max looked at her image in the mirror. _Well, hello again, zombie-face._ She took her toiletries and towel, grabbed one of the crutches and walked to the door. There was no one in the hallway which suited Max fine. She wasn't in the mood for a hallway small talk.

She limped to the shower room and stepped in. The room was empty too. She limped into the closest shower stall and closed the curtain behind her. She removed her clothes and hung them on the hook. She then stepped under the shower and turned on the water.

Max winced when the ice cold water started running and hit her skin. The cold sensation lasted a brief moment, before the water turned to lukewarm and then warm.

Max just stood quietly under the running water and let it fondle her skin. She leaned forward against the wall and exposed her back to the running water. Trickles of tears mixed with the water as the waves of depression and remorse washed through her.

In the other timeline, when Chloe had died, Max had tried to push the grief away by concentrating to her studies. After graduation, she still didn't allow herself to grieve as there was the move back to Seattle and studies at the university that kept her busy.

Only, when the anniversary of Chloe's passing had come closer, all the sorrow began to re-emerge. This coincided with Max's birthday, for which Victoria, now her best friend and roommate had acquired a couple of bottles of sparkling wine.

Max had not been in much of a mood to celebrate her birthday but she'd agreed to have a toast with Victoria. Max was practically a virgin, when it came to alcohol; therefore it was no surprise that one glass of sparkling wine was almost instantaneously rewarded with a slight tipsiness. She also noticed that the overwhelming grief relented somewhat. So she had had another glass, then another and soon she had been in rather a festive mood along with Victoria who had done her own share in emptying the two bottles.

Max had been horribly hung-over the following day but she had also noticed that she wasn't feeling as blue as she had on the previous day.

The anniversary of Chloe's passing had come but Max had decided not to commemorate it. Instead she had decided to commemorate the day, when they had said their goodbyes and shared a kiss, before Max had focused on the butterfly picture and eradicated the week of their reunion out of existence. For that she had managed to get her hands on a bottle of white wine which she then had enjoyed in solitude, remembering her lost friend. Again, the alcohol had eased the pain.

As time had gone by, the grief had persistently kept Max in its grasp. Max had however had the common sense not to resort to drinking every time her mood took a swing to the worse. Towards the end, though, she had begun to seek solace from the bottle increasingly, especially after coming to age, when it was possible for her to purchase alcohol legally.

This trend had not gone unnoticed by her roommate and Victoria had eventually begun to bring the subject up on occasions. Max had however assured that she had it under control.

Then Max's internship supervisor, Julia Bennett had turned out to be a psychotic copycat who held a grudge to her former boss, Mark Jefferson and things had escalated to a point, where Max had had to eradicate four years of her life out of existence.

With Chloe back alive and the timeline continuing from when the shooting had occurred, Max had thought everything was fine and she could have a more sensible relationship to her drinking. Now, though, she was haunted by constant nightmares and she felt that her psyche was crumbling.

Max knew that she should seek professional help or at least confide to Chloe. That was what her subconscious in the form of Victoria tried to tell her. Chloe was dealing with her own issues, though and Max couldn't really discuss with a therapist, what was really bothering her, as it in this reality had never happened.

Chloe still had her weed stash for occasional use and Max had considered trying it but she really wasn't into smoking of any kinds of substances and it would also meant involving Chloe, so she gave up on that idea and resorted to visiting the gas station shop with her tuned ID. And after every time the pain was replaced with guilt and remorse.

When Max woke up from her thoughts, she realized that she was sitting on the shower stall floor while the warm water was still washing her body. She stood up and cracked the stall door slightly open to see the clock on the wall.

 _Oh fuck, I'm gonna be late!_ Max thought when she saw the time and started quickly shampooing her hair.

* * *

Chloe was sitting in her truck at the Blackwell parking lot. She had parked next to Max's Ranchero. The punk took a closer look at the vintage truck. The metallic blue paint of the roof had begun to give way to a brownish tone as a result of forming rust at the top of the windscreen. In a way it reminded her of her beech shaded root growth on her otherwise blue hair. _It really is a spitting image in its own way._

'Big Brother' by Velcra was playing loud in her car stereo and she was moshing along with the song. She jumped when Max suddenly pulled the passenger side door open.

"Dude! You scared the hella shit out of me!" Chloe gasped.

"I tried tapping on your window but you didn't hear me," Max said and sat on the passenger's seat, setting the crutches between her legs. "Sorry you had to wait for me. Walking is hella slow with these things."

"I think we'll still make it to breakfast setting." Chloe started the truck and turned the volume down a notch.

"So are you my 'big brother'?" Max asked, referring to the lyrics of the song.

"What, huh?" Chloe blurted. _Fuck, did she see me by the gas station last night?_

"I mean, in the other time you were my appointed guardian angel," Max said, not implying anything by it.

"Dude, I'm your partner." Chloe let her shoulders relax out of relief. "I'll be whatever you need me to be. - Speaking of, how was your last night?"

"Oh, nothing special," Max said, trying to avoid Chloe's look.

 _Maximus, talk to me! I know you have a shitload of stuff on your mind._ Chloe tried to glance the freckled brunette from the corner of her eye but couldn't make contact, so she decided to change the subject. "Hey, will you join me on a trip to Portland after classes? I still need to buy some gear for my costume and there's no frickin' chance I can get it here. We could go to some fancy place to eat, while we're there."

Max lifted her eyebrow. "Chloe Elizabeth Price, are you asking me on a date?"

"Um, yeah?" Chloe managed to blurt, when she realized the subtextual meaning of her question.

Max grinned as she clearly had got Chloe confused with her half-jokingly asked question. "Sure, I'd love to go on a date with you."

Chloe just stared at the road in front of her. After her resurrection they actually hadn't been on a real date yet and this wasn't exactly what she had planned, so Max's question had surprised her pants down. _Mm-kay, maybe need to think something fancier than I initally thought._

"One condition, though," Max pulled Chloe out of her thoughts. "We're taking my truck."

"What? Are you implying my truck isn't up for the trip?" Chloe snorted.

"I don't know much about cars but the engine in mine does sound hella healthier."

"You're right, you don't know much about cars." Chloe frowned, before she let out a warm grin. "But sure, let's take the Maxmobile." Chloe let out a silent sigh of relief. She had been suspecting that one of the exhaust valves in the cylinder head of the engine had burned but she hadn' t got around taking a look at it.

* * *

Victoria sat in her BMW and watched Max step into the battered white truck.

She recognized the driver to be Chloe Price, who had been expelled from Blackwell on her junior year and who had saved Max's life, when Nathan had shot her. Victoria had hung around in completely different circles than Chloe but the punk was well known in Arcadia Bay.

Victoria had heard from Kate that Max and Chloe went way back and that they had reconnected after the shooting. There were rumors that the two young women had reconnected even before that but in secrecy.

 _Secrecy..._ Victoria gasped. _She is banging the punk!_ Victoria had regarded the brunette many things; most of them not very flattering, but the thought that Max might be gay had really not crossed her mind. She sat quietly in her car and tried to process this new revelation.

Victoria realized that she didn't actually know Max Caulfield very well and what she knew was mostly based on her own perception. _Maxine Caulfield, there certainly appears to be more than meets the eye with you..._

Victoria stepped out of her car and walked towards the dormitory. She stopped midway, as she saw the man from yesterday standing under the maple tree. He stared her back but his expression was friendly, almost soothing.

Victoria took a deep breath and approached the man slowly. She kept her eyes pinned to him as she didn't want him to disappear before she'd at least tried to make contact with him.

The man was wearing jeans, a denim shirt and a coat. He didn't make any motions to leave. Instead he looked Victoria straight in the eyes. "You can see me, can't you?" he asked.

"Um, hi, yes, I can see you," the blonde girl stammered. "Who are you?"

"I-, I can't remember," he answered. "I was kinda hoping that you could tell me."

"I'm sorry, no," Victoria said. "You do realize you're dead, right?"

"Yeah, I figured that much, when people all of a sudden didn't notice me and began to walk through me." The man gave a laugh.

"What do you remember?" Victoria asked.

"I... remember that I was driving somewhere and then... the next thing I remember I was at the lighthouse." He gazed towards the silhouette of the tower in the town skyline. "Ever since I've been wondering the streets of Arcadia, trying to find out who I am."

"It was you who was in the exhibition in San Francisco."

"Yes. It was a little before you went there, when I saw you and sensed there was something different about you," the man explained. "I wasn't able to get your attention until then."

"Wait a second!" Victoria frowned. "Have you been stalking me all the time?"

"God no!" the man assured promptly. "I've just been to school premises and public places. I haven't invaded your privacy."

"This-, this all new to me," Victoria said. "I mean, I used to be able to see dead people, when I was a kid but it's been so many years. I'm not sure how I can help you."

"Well, I'm in no hurry," the man said, laughing. "It's just nice to have someone to talk to for a change. - But I won't be holding you any longer. Talk to you later."

He vanished right before Victoria's eyes, leaving the young woman standing there alone.

* * *

Max parked in front of a small shop. 'Specialty Imports' read in big letters on top of the showcase. The shop was located in the Nortwest district of Portland, also known as Nob Hill and it was specialized in imported food products.

Max and Chloe had arrived in Portland a couple of hours ago and already visited a couple of second hand stores, where Chloe had bought a few accessories for her Halloween costume. She also bought a second hand navy coat for winter. Max thought that the coat went well with Chloe's beanie, making her look like an actual seaman.

Max had also found a pair of second hand pilot Ray Bans, which she had reluctantly admitted to be a part of her costume.

They stepped out of Max's truck and into the shop, which was filled with all kinds of foodstuff from around the world.

"This is a must go place for me, every time I visit Portland," Chloe said. "It's one of the few places in the Pacific Northwest, where you can buy salmiak."

"The what?" Max asked, bewildered.

"It's a salty liquorice type of candy that is made in the Nordic countries," the bluenette explained. "It's one of my many vices." She lead Max to a shelf that contained bags and cases of different brands, containing black candies.

"You mean you actually eat this stuff?"

"Sure, these 'Merkkari' pirate coins and 'Tyrkisk Peber' drops are my favourites," Chloe said enthusiastically. "Let's go to the counter so you can have a taster."

"I don't think I want to," Max said insecurely.

"I'm calling dare!" Chloe said with an impish grin. "Hey Jay, you somewhere in here?"

A man in his mid twenties came from the back room. "Chloe! Long time no see, dude!"

"Been busy with stuff," Chloe said. "My friend here would like to try you-know-what."

"Ah, a new convert," Jay said, smiling. "Coming right up." He walked to the shelf containing the salty liquorice.

"Hey, I didn't..." Max tried to object but Chloe begun to flap her arms line wings.

"Chickeen! Cluck cluck!" The punk begun to prance like a chicken.

"Oh, put a sock in it, dork!" The brunette retorted. "I'll try your candy, all right?"

"That's my Super Max." Chloe smiled.

Jay came back with two bags, a 'Merkkari' and another one called 'Pommix'.

He opened the first one and poured its contents on the counter. Coin shaped candies in different colors came out. He picked a black one and gave it to Max.

Max looked the black coin in her hand for a moment and then quickly put it in her mouth.

"There now, happy?" she managed to say before the flavor hit her consciousness. At first, the candy tasted just salty but suddenly her taste buds were literally stung by the full effect of the ammonium chloride that was the essential ingredient of salty liquorice. The stinging sensation hit her mind like a bolt of lightning, before the taste smoothed into a salty sweetness.

"Wowser! These... are actually pretty good," Max managed to say between savoring the flavors of the candy dissolving on her tongue.

"See, I told you," Chloe said, grinning to the brunette, who was standing there with her mouth clamped.

"Check this out, Chloe," Jay said to the punk. "Got these from Finland last week. "These things will blow your mind." He opened another bag poured black and brown drops on the counter. "Try a black one."

Chloe picked one candy up and put it in her mouth. She savored the candy in her mouth for a moment, before closing her eyes. "Hoooyeaaah, baby!" Chloe sighed and let out a smacking sound. "This is better than sex - well, almost." she said and grinned again to Max.

"Good save," the brunette grinned back.

"Pretty good shit, huh?" Jay asked.

"You said it," Chloe concurred. "I'll take three bags."

"Excellent choice," Jay said. "What about you," he asked Max.

"I think I could take a couple of bags of these other ones." Max pointed the pirate coins. "What flavor are these red and yellow ones?"

"They're fruit flavored," Jay answered. "I usually take one black and one of the other colors at the same time. Makes a nice mixture."

Max and Chloe paid their purchases and left the shop.

"So what about that dinner place?" Max asked.

"Well, it's actually a few blocks down the street," Chloe said. "It's a nice little bistro. Haven't been there for years but it should still be there."

Max started the truck and joined the traffic. After ten minutes of driving Chloe pointed at a small bistro along the street.

"It doesn't look much but it is really homey and the food is awesome. Back in the day, we used to eat there almost every time, we visited Portland," Chloe told. "Last time was just week before dad died." There was a slight sadness in the punk's voice, when she finished the sentence.

"Are you sure you want to go there?" Max asked. "We can go some place else if you want to."

"It's okay, Max," Chloe assured. "In fact I couldn't think of a better place to take you on our first date." She leaned over to kiss the freckled brunette on the cheek.

Max managed to find a free spot just after the restaurant. She parked the truck and they went into the bistro. They were lead to a vacant booth.

"What's good in here?" Max asked. She had visited Portland frequently with her parents, when they still had lived in Arcadia Bay but she had never been to this place before.

"Well, the pizzas are just awesome," Chloe answered. "The bottom is so thin and crispy, the tomato sauce is just perfect and the toppings are of good quality. - But you can't go wrong with any of the pastas either."

The two young women decided to share a selection of antipasti for starters. Chloe took a pizza for main course and Max settled for a veggie pasta.

"So, how's it going with Vic?" Chloe asked, as she separated a slice from her pizza.

"Oh, she's still her loveable self," the brunette answered. "Maybe a bit more agitated, because I know how to push her buttons."

"Any signs of her – ability?"

"Not that I know of." Max fiddled her pasta with the fork. "When Victoria told me about it in the other timeline, she said that it didn't manifest until spring and we were pretty close by then. – And even then it took her four years to tell."

"Which would be about the same time until you told her about your time twisting powers," Chloe said, pointing a slice of pizza at the brunette.

"Touché," Max admitted.

"You know, you're not obligated to get to be BFF with Victoria," Chloe said and took a sip of her soda.

"I made a promise to Vic, - the other Vic, that I wouldn't give up on her," Max objected. "Beneath that bitchy shell is the kindest and most unselfish person I know. – Present company included."

"Ouch!" The punk put her hands over her chest, feigning being hurt. "Gotta work up my game."

"I love you just the way you are," Max said to her and leaned over the table to kiss her lover.

"Mmm. We definitely should visit Portland more often," Chloe said and leaned back on her seat. "Portland has always been a safe haven for me against the boredom and small circles of Arcadia Bay. I've tried to come here whenever possible."

"You'll love Seattle," Max said to her.

"Probably," Chloe concurred. "But if you'll excuse me, I have to make a quick stop in the girls' room." She stood up and headed towards the restrooms.

Max twiddled her glass and thought about the last few weeks. She could've never imagined that her life would change so much as it had, since she came to Arcadia Bay. She was definitely not that timid and introvert girl from Seattle anymore. What she had experienced in the other timelines had definitely left a lasting impression on her, and not without a cost, but moments like these really helped her to cope with it.

Max felt her fingers get wet, so she looked at the glass that she was still twiddling. It was nearly full with soda. _What the fuck?_ The glass was almost empty just a moment ago, she was certain of it. Max quickly looked around her. Nothing else seemed to have changed. Their plates were still finished and Chloe was still in the restroom. Yet, the previously almost empty glass that she had been twiddling, looked now exactly the same as it did, when the waiter had brought it, full with soda and ice cubes.

Suddenly, a drop of blood fell on the drink, mixing itself with the lemon soda. Max instinctively felt her nose and realized it was bleeding. _Oh fuck! Is it happening again?_ Max felt the cold sweat on her forehead as the anxiety hit her.

"You okay, Max? You look like you've seen a ghost," Chloe said as she returned to the table, startling the brunette. "No pun intended."

"Huh, what? Chloe?" Max stammered. "It's nothing. There must've been lactose in the pasta sauce and my stomach is now protesting." She stood up hastily. "I think I need to make a stop to the girls' room too," she said, leaving Chloe looking after her with a puzzled look.

* * *

The Arcadia Bay Lodge was located at the forest edge, a few miles north of the town center. The facade windows gave an unobstructed view to the Pacific Ocean. The hotel was owned by the Prescott family and by far the best accommodation Arcadia Bay could offer.

"Welcome to the Arcadia Bay Lodge!" the receptionist said to the new guest that stepped inside the lobby. "How can I help you?"

"Thank you! There should be a reservation with the ID of 46272," the guest said.

"Let me check... Yes, here it is. Ten nights, right?"

"That's correct."

"Would you fill in this registration form, please?" The receptionist passed the form and a pen over the desk. "We have prepared the presidential suite for you."

"Here you go." The guest passed the filled form back.

The receptionist typed in something with her keyboard and then passed a keycard to the guest. "Here's your key. The room number is 309. Do you need help with your luggage?"

"No, thank you. I'll manage," the guest replied.

"I wish you a pleasant stay at the Arcadia Bay Lodge, Ms. Bennett," the receptionist said, smiling.

"Thank you," Julia Bennett replied and smiled back. "I think I will."

**To be continued...**


	3. Good as New

**October 24, 2013, seven days to Halloween**

Max was sitting alone on her bed in her dorm room, gripping a pillow tightly on her lap. Her alarm room clock showed 03:15 in bright red digits. She had not been able to go to sleep because of what had happened in the bistro earlier.

When she had excused herself and found the restroom, she had gone to the first possible stall and thrown up everything she had just eaten. She had spent almost ten minutes gasping and gagging, before Chloe had come to look for her.

"Max, is everything ok?" Chloe had asked.

"I'm ok, my stomach is acting up more than I thought," Max had answered, trying to sound as normal as possible.

The return trip back to Arcadia Bay had proceeded mostly in silence, with Max trying to pretend that she didn't see Chloe's concerned look. When they had reached Chloe's home, she had asked whether Max would like to bunk with her but the brunette had politely declined and driven back to the dormitory.

 _I thought my powers were gone for good,_ she thought. _Why did they return all of a sudden?_

Max turned around and picked a picture from her photo memorial wall. She held the photo in her both hands and tried to focus on it. After a minute of intense staring, she gave up. _Ok, still can't focus._

Max stood up and limped to her desk. She flipped the mug that had her pencils and pens over. She then extended her arm and concentrated. As much as she tried, the mug stayed flipped and the pens were scattered over the desk. _Can't rewind either._

She put all the pens back into the mug save for one pencil that was only a few inches long. She held the pencil between her fingers and focused on it. Almost instantly, the pencil started to slowly grow. _Wowser!_ The pen kept growing until it reached its original length, then the sharpened head turned flat, the way it had been when Max had bought it. Then, all of a sudden, the pen vanished out of existence, like it never had been there. _Oh fuck!_

Max pinched her fingers together but she no longer felt the pen. _This is fucking amazeballs! I actually rewound the pen out of existence!_

Max looked around her room for something else to try her new ability. She spotted one of the empty Breezer bottles in the recyclable glass container. She limped to the container, took the bottle in her hands and concentrated. In a few moments, the bottle began to fill with its contents and in no time it was full.

Max looked at the bottle in her hand. _I have an endless supply of Breezer._ She raised the bottle on her lips but then she stopped, when she heard the familiar voice.

"Reality check, Caulfield!" Victoria had appeared on her side. "That really is a neat trick but are you sure you want to go down that road?"

"What do you care, 'Vic'?" Max frowned to her. "What does anyone care?"

"I know someone who cares a lot about your wellbeing, and in some level you care about it too," Victoria said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

"N-no, I guess not," Max stammered quietly.

"I know exactly, what you're going through but I'm not able to help you process it," Victoria said. "You have to talk to someone. - I can offer you advice but in the end it's up to you, Max." After that sentence, she disappeared.

Max looked at the bottle in her hand. A single tear trickled down her cheek as she concentrated again. The cap appeared back on top of the bottle and in a few moments the bottle vanished.

Suddenly Max began to feel dizzy and she had to take support from the wall. She instinctively wiped her nose with her hand, which was stained in blood. _Oh crap! I hope this doesn't end up in a fucking tornado,_ she thought as she sat down on her bed.

* * *

Chloe was also awake. She was sitting in her old swing in the backyard. An unlit joint was hanging from her lips and she had her Zippo in her right hand.

When Chloe had decided to quit smoking, she had still held on to her remaining stash of weed, to toke on special occasions. Out of consideration to Joyce and David, she no longer blazed in her room but in the backyard instead.

 _Fuck! This wasn't what I had in mind, when I thought of special occasions,_ Chloe thought. She looked at the Zippo with a skull engraving in her hand but she didn't make her usual backward forward swing against her thigh to light it. She picked up a metallic cigarette case from her pocket, put the joint back into it and closed it. She looked at the case. Her initials were engraved on it. Chloe had got it from Rachel for her nineteenth birthday. It was the last gift she gave before her disappearance. _Am I going to lose Max like I did you, Rach?_

Chloe thought about what had happened in the bistro, when she had returned from the restroom. Max had clearly freaked about something, which definitely wasn't lactose. The drop of blood mixed in Max's drink was pretty clear evidence of that. When Max had not returned, Chloe had went after her and found the brunette gagging in the restroom stall. Max had clearly tried to avoid the subject on the way home, so Chloe had to rely on her own deductions about what was eating Max alive.

Chloe put the cigarette case and the Zippo back into the pocket just in time to hear the door to living room being slid open.

"Chloe, what are you doing here at this hour?" David Madsen asked sternly.

Chloe's eyes narrowed slightly because of her stepfather's tone but she let out a deep sigh and relaxed again. "Would you believe I was just about to light up," she answered, choosing to leave undisclosed what she was going to light up.

"Nicotine withdrawals giving a hard time?" David asked, now in a more relaxed tone.

"More like human relationships causing nicotine withdrawals," the punk laughed.

"Max?"

"Yeah," Chloe admitted. "Can I ask you, how did you deal with all the shit you saw back in Iraq?"

David walked to the swing and rested his arm on the pole. "Who says I've dealt with it," he answered and looked into the distance. "My squad was doing a patrol run on the outskirts of Fallujah, when a roadside mine was detonated towards our Humvee. Everyone else in the Humvee was killed except me." David paused for a moment and closed his eyes. "The enemy began firing at the wreck. I managed to crawl out somehow, into a roadside ditch."

"What happened then?"

"I don't know if they saw me but they kept firing at the wreck and to my direction for I don't know how long. I just lied there and didn't dare to move a muscle. I was scared like shit, but that wasn't the worst part." David bent down on his knees. "After what felt like an eternity, they stopped firing and it became silent. I just lied there and waited, if they would come. Soon it became dark and I still didn't dare to move. I tell you, the silence and anticipation was the worst thing. I really thought I would die that night."

Chloe looked at her stepfather with new eyes. She knew that David had had it rough while in Iraq but she could have never imagined this. In a way, she and David had something in common. They both had been abandoned and felt lonely in their distress.

"It wasn't until next morning, before two other squads from our base came to rescue me."

"Jesus, David! I didn't realize..." Chloe awkwardly placed her hand on her stepfather's shoulder.

"You're the first one I've told about this since my discharge. Even Joyce doesn't know," David said.

"Dave, dude, I really appreciate that you chose to confide in me with this," Chloe said and stood up. "If only Max would do the same."

"You have to give her time. Max'll come to you, when she's ready," David assured her.

"I just hope that'll happen before she does something stupid," Chloe sighed.

"Max is lucky to have a friend that cares about her as much as you. She's definitely been a good influence to you," David said.

That remark made Chloe smile. In the other timeline David's opinion about Max's influence had been pretty much the opposite, when Max had taken the blame for Chloe's weed. "Yes she has," she just said.

"Come on; let's go inside before we both catch a cold!" David started walking towards the house and Chloe followed a few steps behind him.

* * *

Victoria opened her eyes when the first tunes of 'Quicker' by I Blame Coco started playing on her alarm clock mp3 player. She rose up and started humming along with the song as she walked to pick her toiletries.

"...then we could outsmart time!" she joined the chorus. _Yeah right,_ she chuckled about the thought.

The blonde's expression became more serious, when she thought about her encounter with the spirit yesterday. _What the fuck I'm supposed to do with him when he doesn't even remember his own name?_ Victoria thought frustrated. She hoped there would've been someone she could talk about this with.

Courtney and Taylor were out of the question. They would have thought that she's lost it completely.

Kate was a kind and sweet girl but she'd probably call an exorcist for her.

Nathan would've given her the benefit of the doubt but he was locked away and waiting for his trial.

Then there was Maxine Caulfield. The brunette had told her in the hospital that if Victoria had anything on her mind, she'd listen. Her offer seemed sincere but this subject might be too incredible even for her. Besides, Max had appeared a bit on the edge lately, like Nathan.

Victoria knew that with one call, she'd get a prescription that would make the spirits go away but she preferred not to take them as they made her emotionally numb.

Victoria took her toiletries and walked to the shower room. She found Max there at one of the sinks, washing her teeth.

"Maxine," Victoria said, using deliberately the brunette's full name, knowing what the answer would be.

"Vic," the brunette answered and cast a quick glance at the blonde, before continuing her brushing.

"Looking forward to the photography class today?" Victoria asked. Today would be the first time it would be held since the arrest of Mark Jefferson. The classes would be held by substitutes until the end of the year. A new teacher would start in the beginning of spring semester.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Max answered after she had washed her mouth. "Wonder who the first substitute will be?"

Victoria smiled knowingly. "I have some firsthand insight about the matter but I'm gonna hold onto it. Let's just say you might be pleasantly surprised."

"Sure, whatever," Max said indifferently and limped away.

Victoria looked at the at the closing shower room door slightly bewildered. Sure, the last weeks had not been easy for Max but one would think that she'd been more enthusiastic about the photography classes starting again. _Well, maybe she'll cheer up, when she sees, who is substituting._

* * *

David Madsen was sitting in his office and having his third cup of coffee for the morning. He was looking at an empty form on his desk. It was an application to the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem.

His stepdaughter had suggested earlier that since he has a knack for detective work, he should become a police, instead of being just a security guard. At first, he had not given any serious thought for the idea but it had come back to haunt him. Joyce had been supportive and being a police officer certainly had some benefits over being a security guard.

Therefore he had the application form in front of him. It was still untouched. He took a pen and put the tip on the first empty field but didn't start writing. He certainly had his military training to his advantage but on the other hand he still suffered from PTSD. Would that be the deal breaker or just an issue that could be addressed?

 _Fuck, who am I kidding?_ David took the form, put it inside his desk drawer and slammed the drawer shut.

* * *

Max limped into the classroom and took her usual place at the back of the class. She took her Polaroid camera out of her bag. It had been a while since she had used it.

Max took a look at the classroom. Not much had changed after Mark Jefferson's arrest. Some of the posters had been removed from the wall but otherwise it looked pretty much the same.

 _Well, here's for new beginnings,_ Max thought and turned her back to the classroom and lifted her Polaroid and took a selfie.

"Behold! It is the return of Max Caulfield, the selfie-taking photographer!" A voice said behind the brunette.

Max turned to see Warren Graham standing behind her.

"Hi, Warren," Max greeted the young man. "What's up?"

"Brooke and I have been working on our Halloween costumes," Warren said.

"Who will you be?" Max asked.

"John Steed and Emma Peel," Warren said enthusiastically.

"Ah, 'The Avengers'." The brunette grinned impishly. "Smooth, Mr. Graham."

"What about you, Max?"

"Oh, it's a secret."

"Care to give a hint?" Warren asked, lifting his eyebrow.

"Sure," Max said. "Come closer."

Warren leaned forward and turned his ear towards Max, who also leaned closer.

"Seven," Max whispered into Warren's ear.

"Seven of Nine?" Warren blurted.

"No, seven days, you doofus!" Max chuckled. "You'll know in seven days like everyone else!"

Warren blushed slightly. "So, the photography classes are starting again?" he changed the subject.

"Yeah," Max said. "Wonder if the substitute is going to be any good - or at least someone I've heard of."

"I guess you'll find soon enough," Warren said as he heard steps from the hallway. "I also guess that's my cue." He headed towards the door. "Later, Max."

Right after warren had stepped out, Michelle Grant, who was the acting principal, stepped in.

"Good morning, class!" Mrs. Grant said. "As you probably know, the new photography teacher won't be starting until the beginning of next semester."

"Therefore, until holiday break, the photography classes will be held intermittently by visiting teachers," Mrs. Grant continued. "Thanks to Victoria, we are honored to have a renowned photographer to keep the lectures until end of this month."

Max cast a quick glance at Victoria, who seemed clearly pleased with herself.

"Without further ado," Mrs. Grant pointed towards the door. "I am honored to introduce you Ms. Julia Bennett!"

Max's jaw dropped in shock as she watched the person, who had captured and nearly killed her in the other timeline, to walk into the classroom.

Max was probably the only person in the room, in addition to Julia Bennett herself, who was aware that Julia Bennett was in fact a trans-woman, formerly known as Joseph Adams, and Mark Jefferson's former assistant and ex-lover. In time, she would also be a copycat serial killer.

Max could see from the corner of her eye that Victoria was staring at her slightly bewildered, which made her realize how strongly she had reacted to Julia's entrance. _Get a frickin' grip, Caulfield! She doesn't even know who you are. - Or does she?_

"Good morning!" Julia greeted the students. "My name is Julia Bennett. Most of you have probably heard of me, so I won't go into details of my background. Those who haven't, go and Google it up." She walked in front of the teacher's desk and leaned against it. "Let's do a short introductory round. Ms. Chase I've already had the pleasure to meet in San Francisco -" She nodded towards Victoria. "- but the rest of you, please tell me your name and something about your background."

One by one, each student made a short self-introduction, some in more detail than the others.

While waiting her turn, Max's initial shock began to turn into anger, building up from all the affliction that she'd had to endure in Julia's hands. Her eyes narrowed and her knuckles whitened as she squeezed her hands into fists.

"And who are you, young lady?" Julia turned to look at Max.

"Maxine. Siobhán. Caulfield," the brunette said icily and stared Julia Bennett straight in the eyes, crossing her arms and making a short pause between each of her names. She could feel everyone turning to look at her in amazement but she didn't let her eyes off of her opponent.

"Uh, okay," Julia said, blinking and taken aback. "Is there anything else you'd like to share?"

_Sure, where would I start? I was your assistant and I admired you, until I found out that you were a psychotic serial killer, who held a grudge against another nutjob serial killer and decided to use me as your pawn of vengeance. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I know you used to be a man._

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Max just said, grinning smugly.

Michelle Grant couldn't believe her eyes and ears. "Ms. Caulfield, my office, now!" she finally said, when she had recovered from her bemusement. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Bennett. This isn't at all like Max," she said apologetically to the woman next to her. "Please excuse us."

"That's all right," Julia said. "We can't please everyone."

Max took her belongings, stood up and limped out of the classroom with Mrs. Grant right on her tail.

"What was that all about, Max?" Mrs. Grant asked sternly, when they both were inside the principal's office.

Max didn't answer. She just sat defiantly, with her arms crossed.

"Very well, then," Mrs. Grant said. "I know that you've been through a lot lately and that's the only reason I won't suspend you. You will, however return to the dormitory for the remainder of the day and since you obviously seem to have something against Ms. Bennett, who is as esteemed photographer as Mark Jefferson ever was, you will not be attending any of her classes."

"Was this all?" Max just asked.

Mrs. Grant smoothed her expression a bit. "Max, if there's anything you want to talk about, my door is always open."

A part of Max felt ashamed that she had embarrassed the only teacher she really liked. She wanted to apologize but her anger still got the best of her. "I keep that in mind," she said and stood up.

Max limped out of the principal's office and into the girls' restroom, where she threw up into the sink as she let her emotions take over. _Oh my god! She's here!_ Max thought, when she was panting over the sink. _What the fuck is she doing here?_ Max knew Julia well enough to know that she wouldn't come to a small town school to teach just out of goodness. She had to have some other motive to be here. In retrospective, it had not been very smart to be outright hostile towards her, but seeing Julia had been such a shock that Max had acted out of pure instinct. _Well, can't rewind to fix it._

The thought made Max wonder whether she could rewind living things as well as lifeless objects. Rewinding a classroom full of people one at a time to fix the current situation would be too cumbersome though.

Max washed her face and limped out of the restroom. If Julia Bennett was here in Blackwell, she would need some protection. She went to the security guard office and knocked on the door.

"Max! What are you doing here?" David Madsen said as he opened the door and recognized her stepdaughter's friend.

"Can I have a word with you, Mr. Madsen?" Max asked.

"Please, call me David," David said and let the brunette in. "Any friend of Joyce and Chloe is a friend of mine."

"Okay, David," Max said. It was funny how different the chief of security was towards her, when they had not started off with the wrong foot. Max had not seen David since the shooting but she knew that he had helped Chloe to put the Ranchero together for Max, just like had helped Max to do the same in the other timeline.

"Chloe told me that you helped her with the truck," Max said. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, Max," David said and grinned. _Helped indeed. I did most of the work on that junk,_ he thought. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I need a gun."

David looked at the brunette, not believing his ears.

"Ok, let's pretend I didn't hear that," David finally managed to say. "I mean, if I had heard, I'd have to report you to the principal and you'd be suspended. You of all people should realize why it's a bad idea."

"Yes, I know," Max said silently and felt the healing gunshot wound on her left thigh with her hand.

"But hypothetically speaking, why do you feel you need a gun?" David asked.

"For protection," Max answered.

"What do you need protection from?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"I have a bad feeling about Julia Bennett," Max said after a moment of hesitation.

"Julia Bennett? The new substitute photography teacher?" David asked bewildered.

"Did you run a background check on her?" Max asked.

"Of course! It's standard procedure," David said slightly piqued. "Her record is squeaky clean, save for a few parking and speeding tickets."

Max looked at Chloe's stepfather. How could she make him to find the person behind the carefully built identity of Julia Bennett?

"Could you check again?" Max requested.

"Well, I suppose I could." David said a bit reluctantly. "Anything specific you want me to look for?"

"Try to look for something that isn't there," Max said mysteriously.

"What do you mean by that?" David asked even more bewildered.

"Trust me, you'll know it when you see it," Max assured.

"I'll see what I can find but no promises," David said finally.

"That's all I can ask for," Max said and stood up. "Thanks!" She started limping towards the door.

"Max, wait!" David stopped her. He opened his desk drawer and picked up something. "Look, I can't give you a gun but I can give you some protection. Take this." He passed a small spray can to Max.

Max looked at the red and black can. "What is it?"

"It's a pepper spray," David explained. "It's highly concentrated capsaicin. Spray it on your assailant's face and it should slow him down."

"Ok, thanks!" Max said and smiled as she put the spray in her bag. "And David…" Max looked at Chloe's stepfather. "…please don't say anything to Chloe."

"All right, I won't," David promised.

* * *

Frank Bowers stepped out from his RV, holding a paper and a key in his hands. His dog, Pompidou leaped out after him and walked to his owner. Frank looked at the paper in his hand. It was a title deed of a property, consisting of half an acre of land, a farmhouse and a barn. The 'farmhouse' was rather a small shack that had seen better days. The barn wasn't in much of a better shape but it was moderate-sized.

"Well, Pompidou, this is our new home," Frank said to the dog.

Pompidou barked approvingly and wagged his tail.

Frank had just returned to Arcadia Bay after being away for a few days. He had spent the time driving along the Oregon coast, collecting debts and thinking.

When Chloe Price had told Frank, who was responsible for Rachel's death and how she had died, his world had crumbled. The punk girl didn't need to tell him that he was also responsible for Rachel's fate. He was the one who had sold Nathan Prescott the drugs that he used to overdose Rachel.

Frank had released Chloe from her debt as an expression of gratitude. After the punk girl had left, he had packed his stuff into his RV and drove off.

By the time Frank had reached Newport, he had already known what he was going to do. He needed a new direction in life, a direction that didn't involve drugs. From time to time, he had thought of opening a shelter for abused and abandoned dogs. The time had just never been right, until now.

Frank had sold his remaining stock and collected old debts in Newport, before driving to Portland to settle the debts there. From Portland he had continued to other cities, until he had enough money to buy the property which he was now standing on.

Frank had got a good deal on the farm but it would require lots of work to convert the barn to a shelter for dogs. He hoped that the money he had left would be enough to cover the conversion.

"Let's settle in," Frank said to Pompidou. "Tomorrow we're going to visit Rachel."

* * *

**Chloe: Sup Maximus? How was school?**

**Max: Sucked big time. Guess who is our substitute?**

**Max: Julia Bennett.**

**Chloe: Fuck! No kidding?**

**Max: Nope. She came to our class this morning.**

**Chloe: What happened then?**

**Max: Got myself called to the principal's office and grounded for the rest of the day.**

**Chloe: Holy shit, Max. What did U do?**

**Max: I was overtly hostile towards Julia. Mrs. Grant didn't approve.**

**Chloe: Sometimes I wish I was still going to Blackhell. U giving a teacher a piece of your mind would've been hella priceless. Pun totally intended.**

**Max: Not funny.**

**Chloe: C'mon! U have to appreciate the entertainment value of the situation.**

**Max: Still not funny.**

**Chloe: Ok, sorry.**

**Chloe: U all right? Want me to come over?**

**Max: No thks, I'm good.**

**Max: Let's bitch about it tomorrow at b'fast, 'k?**

**Chloe: Sure. Luv U.**

**Max: Luv U back.**

* * *

The Arcadia Bay Lumber Mill was located just outside town center, between Arcadia Bay Avenue and the beach. The lumber mill was also the end of the railway line. The arrangement locomotives were moving lumber cars back and forth on the railway yard.

The mill was owned by the Prescott family and rumors circulated that Sean Prescott was planning to close it down in order to build a holiday resort in its place.

Right outside the mill property, there was an abandoned warehouse. A white Tesla Model S parked in front of the warehouse. Julia Bennett stepped out of the car and walked to the door. She took a key from her pocket and unlocked the door.

Julia had contacted a local real estate agent in order to rent a working space for one month. She had made the rental agreement over the phone and transferred the deposit and rent from an account that couldn't be traced back to her. The name in the rental agreement was false and the address was a post office box in Portland. The keys had been sent to that post office box and Julia had picked them up on her way from Seattle.

Julia flicked the lights on. Right by the door there were piles of crates but further back there was an empty space. _This will do,_ she thought as she walked between the crates. _This will do just nicely._

**To be continued...**


	4. Dwelling in Darkness

**October 25, 2013, six days to Halloween**

Max was sitting in the classroom and waiting for the photography lesson to start. Mrs. Grant had banned her from attending to Julia Bennett's lessons but that didn't matter. Max knew exactly what to do. Other people were sitting around her and didn't seem to pay much attention to her, save for a few glances from Victoria and Kate.

Julia Bennett walked into the room and was slightly surprised to see the brunette sitting in the back. "Ms. Caulfield, what are you doing here?" she asked. "I thought you weren't supposed to…" Julia Bennett stopped at mid sentence as Max suddenly stood up and pointed a revolver, the same that Chloe had stolen from David, at her.

Everyone in the classroom gasped in shock and tried to find cover. Max didn't care about the commotion around her. She just stood quietly and held Julia at gunpoint.

"Maxine…" Julia started but stopped when the brunette cocked the hammer.

"'Max', never 'Maxine'," Max said quietly.

"Caulfield, have you completely lost it?" Max heard Victoria say from her left side.

"Max, please don't do this!" Kate pleaded on her right.

"Max, remember my number one rule," Mark Jefferson's voice right behind her back said. "Always take the shot!"

Max squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

Max startled awake. She could feel the cold sweat on her forehead. _Oh fuck!_ She gasped her breath. _That has got to be the worst!_ She lifted her head to see Chloe at the door with a mixture of guilt and shock on her face.

"What the fuck, Chloe?" Max snapped and threw her pillow angrily at the bluenette.

"M-max, I'm sorry," the punk stammered. "I w-wanted to surprise you, so I slammed the door. I didn't realize you were having a nightmare."

"Hella uncool, Chloe," the brunette said, still peeved when she shifted to a sitting position.

"Dude, I'm so sorry," Chloe said embarrassed. "I hope you'll accept my peace offering, Belgian waffles, fresh from Two Whales." She pulled out a styrofoam box from a plastic bag.

"C'mere, you dork!" Max changed her frown into a smile and extended her arms. "How can I be mad at you, when you bring waffles."

Chloe walked to Max and kissed her, setting the box of waffles aside. "Was it bad?" she asked, when their lips parted.

"Pretty bad," Max said. "But that's not important right now."

"Not important?" Victoria appeared in the corner. "You shot the lady in cold blood!"

"Oh, she had it coming!" Max snapped to her subconscious projection.

"Who had what coming?" Chloe asked with a puzzled look on her face, turning to look at the empty corner.

"Uh, nothing," Max blurted, when she realized she had said the previous sentence out loud. "Imma eat those waffles now. Let's talk then."

Chloe watched quietly as the brunette devoured the waffles and flushed them down with the coffee Chloe had brought with her.

"Max, please talk to me," Chloe tried to get her lover to open up. "I know something's bothering you."

"I'm fine, Chlo," Max said between bites.

"You know you don't have to keep everything inside of you. I love you and I'm here for you," the punk girl persisted.

"I said I'm fine!" Max snapped, immediately repenting the tone of her voice. "I'm sorry Chloe," she conciliated. "I know you mean well but now isn't the time to start going through my issues. We need to figure what we are going to do about Julia."

"What can we do?" Chloe asked. "As far as we know, she hasn't committed any crime."

"I know, but when I was her captive in the other timeline, she told me that Jefferson's arrest had been the trigger," Max said.

"Yes, but it took years before she actually did something," Chloe objected.

"That's just it!" the brunette exclaimed. "I didn't meet Julia until I had moved to Seattle. Julia told today that she already knew Victoria. It's pretty obvious, where they have met."

"The Everyday Heroes Exhibition," Chloe said out loud.

"It was a tie between Vic and I but since I wasn't shot in the other timeline, the picture to be entered was drawn and mine was picked," Max said. "We both went to San Francisco and spent the most of the time together. That's probably why neither of us met Julia there."

"So, since it was Victoria's entry that was chosen and you weren't there with her, she may have met Julia there," Chloe deducted.

"She is targeting Victoria," Max concluded.

"Maybe, but without proof there's not much we can do about it." Chloe shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, Julia's going to be here, what, for a week? Not much you can do in a week."

"Much?" Max retorted. "Your life can totally change in a week!"

"Point taken," the bluenette admitted. "Still, unless we can come up with any proof, we can only be alert."

"Come on! We can't just stand still, while Julia is out there!" Max said frustratingly.

"Max, you need to calm down!" Chloe tried to appease the brunette.

" _You_ are telling me to _calm down_?" Max huffed.

Chloe's eyes narrowed slightly at the picking. "True, I wasn't much different, when I was focused on finding Rachel but, as unbelievable it may sound, I've got wiser since that." Chloe put her hands on Max's shoulders. "I had four fucking years to think why I had ended up buried six feet under."

Max turned her gaze away but Chloe didn't let that avert her. "Instead of dealing with my issues, I focused on something that, while important, was just a patch to the symptoms."

"Is that also what I am to you, a patch?" Max brushed Chloe's hands away.

"What? No!" Chloe blurted. "You mean everything for me!"

Max turned away and folded her knees against her chest. A tear trickled down her cheek. "Go," she sobbed silently. "Just go!"

Chloe opened her mouth and reached for the brunette but she bit her lip and pulled her hand back. She stood up and walked slowly to the door. She opened the door and stepped outside. She almost closed the door behind her but stopped and turned around.

"I'll always be there for you, if you let me, Max," she simply said and closed the door.

* * *

As Seattle was the hometown of Starbucks, it was no surprise that Detective Sergeant John Korhonen was sitting in a Starbucks cafe with his new partner Detective Stacy Kowalski. John was drinking a plain cup of joe while Stacy had a Caramel Macchiato.

"So, 'Finn', does your nickname have something to do with your surname?" Kowalski asked.

"Heh, you could say so," Finn answered. "My great-grandfather immigrated here from Finland in the late 1800's. He made sure that anyone bearing the family name will have to learn pronounce it correctly." He took a sip from his coffee. "It can be a little hard to pronounce, if you aren't familiar with the quirks of Finnish language. Therefore most people at the precinct just call me Finn."

Finn examined his new partner. She appeared very ambitious and determined. He had taken a quick look at Kowalski's file before they had gone for coffee to get acquainted. Stacy Kowalski had graduated top of her class from the academy. She had a Master's degree from criminology with a minor from forensic psychology. Finn hunched a guess that the SPD was just a waypoint on her way to Quantico.

"So, what got you to join the Seattle's finest?" Finn asked.

"Ever since my early teens, I've been interested in what makes the likes of Ted Bundy or the Unabomber tick," Stacy answered. "I majored in criminology and minored in forensic psychology but I guess you read that from my file, when you 'took that detour to the john'." She smiled sheepishly.

Finn cleared his throat and took another sip from his coffee. "Well, yes, guilty as charged," he said slightly embarrassed but turned to look Kowalski straight in the eye. "But, assuming that you've read my file, make an assessment of me, based on my file and the time we've spent together."

Kowalski looked at the older man a moment and finished her macchiato before she opened her mouth. "Well, you have a long and spotless service record, so you should be at least a lieutenant, if not a captain by now. Yet you've been a sergeant for sixteen years." She shifted to a slightly more comfortable position. "I take that you like to get your hands dirty, rather than do administrative work. I'd say you still have five to ten years of service ahead of you, before retirement."

"Not bad," John said and wasn't quite able to hide his amazement. Kowalski had practically summarized his career. "Anything else?"

"You're laid back and don't want to make a big number out of yourself. You've fired your service weapon only five times on the field during your career and not once taken anyone's life, which tells something about your values," Stacy kept on going. "You aren't too ambitious about your work. You get the job done and go home afterwards. You've lost your working partner once in the line of duty. That's probably why you're somewhat distant towards most of your co-workers." She paused for a moment. "Still want me to continue?"

"No, that's enough," Finn said uneasily. "Stan Harrison was my first partner, when I was still a beat cop. You could say we were pretty close. I took it pretty heavily, when he died."

Finn gazed out from the window. "After Stan's passing, I decided that I need to have a life outside of work. Something positive to balance the negative that comes with the job." He emptied his mug. "That's also one of the reasons I'm still a sergeant after all these years."

They both sat in silence for a moment, and then Finn stood up. "We probably should head back to the precinct."

"Yeah, we probably should," Kowalski said and followed Finn to the door.

They walked to an unmarked Dodge Charger. "You wanna drive? Finn asked, holding the car keys in one hand.

"Yeah, sure," Stacy said and caught the keys that Finn tossed to her.

"So where do we start with the Janice Smith case?" Finn asked, when they drove towards the First Hill precinct.

"We haven't been able to locate her cell but I can check the call and messaging records," Kowalski said. "You want to go to the club where she was last seen?"

"Sure, computers aren't really my cup of tea," Finn chuckled.

* * *

Victoria sat in her room, listening to music and trying to come up with good excuses not to start writing an essay about William Talbot. 'Set Fire to the Rain' by Adele was playing on her audio system.

She was still puzzled about Max's reaction to Julia Bennett. She could still remember from the beginning of semester, when an introductory round has been made that Max had mentioned Julia as one of her idols, along with Jefferson. Perhaps Max was reflecting her disappointment to Jefferson into Julia, although completely undeservingly. _Your loss, Caulfield,_ Victoria thought.

Max's hostility towards Julia wasn't the only thing that kept Victoria away from her assignment. She had been returning from the shower room this morning, when she had seen Chloe leaving Max's room looking upset and the heated exchange of words that she had heard through the wall left little room for speculation.

If there had been some doubt in Victoria's mind about that Max and the punk might be an item, those doubts had vanished after the morning. _Max might need some consolation,_ Victoria thought and was bewildered. _Victoria Chase, are you actually empathetic towards Max Caulfield? That is a new one!_ She smiled.

Victoria brushed the thought aside and took her iPhone in her hands and started the camera app. Switching to front camera, she made faces to the screen and took a selfie. Even though she would never admit it she was as much a selfie ho as Max. She looked at the picture, grinned approvingly and shut down the camera app.

Just as she was about to put the phone away, it started to vibrate for an incoming call. It wasn't any of her contacts as the caller ID wasn't showing but based on the area code, the call was coming from Seattle. Victoria swiped the screen to accept the call.

"Hello," she said to the microphone.

"Good afternoon, this is detective Stacy Kowalski from Seattle PD. Am I talking to Ms. Victoria Chase?" a woman's voice in the other end asked.

"Yes, this is she."

"I'm calling in regards of Janice Smith," Kowalski said. "I assume that you know her?"

"Yes, we've met," Victoria answered. "Has something happened to her?"

"When was the last time you were in contact with her?"

"I texted with her two days ago," Victoria said, slightly irritated that Kowalski had ignored her question. "Is she all right?"

"Ms. Smith was reported missing this morning." Kowalski answered. "We believe that she has gone missing soon after your last conversation."

"Oh my goodness!" Victoria gasped.

"How well do you know Janice Smith?"

"I met her in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago," Victoria said. "We hung out together for the weekend but since then we've just texted every now and then."

"All right. Thank you so much," Kowalski finally said. "If you remember something, you can call this number any time."

"I will," Victoria said. "I hope you'll find Janice."

"We hope that too. Thanks and bye!" The line went silent.

Victoria stared at her phone incredulous. Even though she had known Janice only for a short time she'd felt a connection between them. And perhaps due to the unusual setting, Victoria had been able to be just herself around Janice and not having to keep up her bitchy front. She felt that what they had were the makings of an intimate friendship, maybe even more.

 _Well, one more reason to talk to Max,_ Victoria thought as she was aware that Janice and Max had known each other when Max had still lived in Seattle. She opened the messaging app and began tapping.

* * *

Max was sitting on the bed in t-shirt and shorts. After her fray with Chloe she had not felt like going to classes, so she had skipped the whole day.

'Private Hell' by Alice In Chains was playing on her stereo. Her parents had listened a lot of grunge when they had been younger, so Max had spent her childhood with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. It wasn't what she usually listened but right now it seemed to fit her mood.

_Bling!_

Max reached for her phone. Her expression brightened up a bit in hope that it might be Chloe but the grimness returned when she saw the message.

**You have contact request from Victoria Chase (QnB). Accept?**

Max stared at the contact request. Why in the world would Victoria want to add Max in her chat contacts? Her nick was quite becoming, though. Max sighed and pressed 'Accept'.

**Max: Ok, I'll bite. What U want?**

**QnB: U in? Need 2 parlay.**

**Max: Yep. Sure whatevs.**

**QnB: B right there.**

_What the fuck is this all about?_ Max thought as she stood up and pulled a pair of sweatpants on. She took a tissue and wiped her teary eyes and blew her nose. She managed to make her bed just before Victoria knocked on the door.

"It's open," Max said.

Victoria stepped in and closed the door behind her. She took a moment to listen to the music. "Not very indie folk-ey, is it?"

"Not in the mood for mellow guitar tones," Max grumbled. "Besides, gotta support the hometown bands, right?"

"Ugh, I've never liked grunge," Victoria snorted. "So why the grimmy mood? Had a bit of a quarrel with your girlfriend?"

"My _what?_ " Max's eyes narrowed. She and Chloe had tried to be discreet about their relationship. How could Victoria possibly know?

"Oh, come on!" Victoria kissed Max's question off. "You two are setting off my gaydar at eleven."

"If you're so sure about Chloe and me being an item, why haven't you already posted it on Twitter or something?" Max asked sternly.

Victoria looked away from Max, clearly ashamed. The video that she had taken of Kate Marsh and put online was still a sore subject for her.

"Look, while I deservedly do enjoy a certain reputation among the Blackwell students, even I draw the line somewhere and that is picking on people's sexual preferences," Victoria said. "Whatever we discuss on that matter will stay within these walls."

Max peered at the blonde tentatively, when she heard Victoria's voice but from completely different direction than where she was standing to say: "You know you can trust me to be on the level with this." Max glanced over her shoulder to see a slightly older version of Victoria sitting next to her. "My god! What was I thinking combining saffron with graphite," she said, looking at her younger counterpart's outfit critically.

"Max, if it helps to put you at ease, I'll share something about me," the younger Victoria continued. "I'm bi."

"I... oh," Max stammered. She had almost said _I know._ When they had been roommates in the other timeline, Max had been well aware that Victoria was bisexual, or undecided, as she preferred to express it.

"Ok, I have to admit I didn't see that one coming," the older Victoria said. "Well, I'll leave you two ladies to it," she added and disappeared.

"I'm not officially out, so I'm telling you this in confidence, and a token of goodwill," the remaining Victoria said.

Max was speechless. Victoria was opening up to her in a drastic way.

"Vic- toria, I- I don't know what to say," Max said baffled. "I mean your secret is safe with me of course, but..."

"Don't sweat it, Caulfield," Victoria said. "I'm not suggesting us to be BFFs or anything. I just wanted to tell that I know what you're going through, and that you can come to me, if you need to talk to someone."

"Thanks, Victoria," Max said and managed a faint smile. She looked out of the window for a moment and sighed. "My sexual preference... I love Chloe more than anything in the world. That pretty much sums it up. If that means I'm gay, then I guess I am gay."

"What was your fight in the morning about?" Victoria asked. "I mean, you don't have to tell, if you don't want to..."

"It was just over a stupid thing," Max sighed again. "The real issue is... more complicated. I really don't want to get into that right now."

"Sure," Victoria said. "This wasn't the only issue, why I needed to talk with you. I got a phone call from the Seattle police. Janice Smith has gone missing, and since you know her too, I thought you should know."

"Janice is missing?" Max's eyes popped wide open. "Since when?"

"A few days ago," Victoria answered. "I chatted online with her on the same night."

"Where have you met?" Max asked frantically, already knowing what the answer would be.

"The Everyday Heroes Exhibition," Victoria answered, slightly bewildered about the brunette's sudden change in mood. "What about it?"

"Did she talk with Julia Bennett as well?"

"I think so, yes, but what has that to do with anything?" Victoria asked even more bewildered.

"I have every reason to believe that Julia kidnapped Janice and has most probably already killed her," Max stated.

Victoria looked at the brunette incredulously. "Max, have you any idea, how crazy that sounds?" she asked. "I mean, the whole deal with Jefferson is one thing but what are the odds that two famous photographers are serial killers?"

"Julia has been Jefferson's assistant," Max tried.

"That is so not true!" Victoria retorted. "I've done my homework and there is no mention that Julia had worked for Jefferson."

"But Julia has not always been Julia!" Max objected. "Before she became Julia Bennett, she was a man called Joseph Adams, who was Jefferson's assistant and lover."

Victoria burst into laughter. "That's just preposterous!" she blurted. "You obviously have something against Julia but I never thought you'd resort to slander. Have you got even a hint of proof to back up your allocations?"

 _Proof?_ Max thought. _I was that bitch's assistant and she tried to kill me as a reward!_ She wanted to tell Victoria all about the alternative timeline and her ability but the blonde obviously wasn't very receptive for exploits of time travel.

"No..." she just said resignedly.

"Max, I realize that you're obviously upset about the recent events," Victoria said to her. "But if you stick to your delusions, you'll end up like Nathan, or worse." She walked to the door and opened it. "As I said, this will remain between us; you have my word, but please seek help." She closed the door behind her.

Max threw her pillow angrily at the door. "Just go! See if I care!" She said angrily, before bursting into tears.

* * *

Chloe parked her truck next to the fuel pump at the gas station. She stepped out and waved to the attendant inside the station shop. The attendant waved back in compliance and flicked a switch to unlock the pump. Chloe unscrewed the tank cap and inserted the fuel pistol into the opening. The fuel pump began to hum and gasoline flowed into the tank.

Chloe watched the numbers run on the pump and thought about the argument with Max this morning. She felt frustrated. Mostly, because she wasn't able to help Max the way she wanted her to. Deep inside, she wanted to steal one of her stepfather's guns and shoot a hole into Julia Bennett's forehead. The old Chloe would've done just that; but she wasn't that Chloe anymore. Whether she liked it or not, the four years spent as a spirit had given her perspective and perhaps even wisdom. She knew that she couldn't go on as the reckless punk she had used to. She had to act more responsibly.

Chloe felt that she was now more reminiscent of that Chloe that was paralyzed and bound to a wheelchair and a respirator. Of course she was still somewhat brash and blunt but she felt that she had adopted the reserve of that other Chloe, when she had received her memories in the Purgatory. She now had the common sense not to plunge headlong into situations.

That common sense was now holding her back, and while she felt it was the right thing to do, it hurt like hell to watch Max suffer in her agony. Chloe knew that she had to do something, before the Max would regress to the point, when she would do something irreversible. _Irreversible,_ she sneered to herself. That word had got a totally new meaning.

The click of the fuel pistol shook Chloe out of her thoughts. She placed the fuel pistol into its holster and screwed the tank cap back on. She walked into the shop and to the counter.

"Hi Greg, how's it going?" Chloe asked the attendant.

"Hey Chloe, it's really quiet," Greg answered. "You're my first customer in an hour."

"12 gallons of regular and a pack of nicotine gums," Chloe said and reached for a nicotine gum pack on the rack. She took the pack in her hands and looked at it for a moment. She sighed deep and put the gum pack away. "On second thought, gimme a pack of Roughwood Lites." Chloe pointed at the cigarette rack.

"That'll be $29," Greg said.

"Keep the change," Chloe laid three ten dollar bills on the counter and took the cigarette pack.

Chloe walked back to the truck, sat behind the wheel and unwrapped the pack of cigarettes. She placed a cigarette between her lips, flicked her Zippo and lit up. She took a deep puff and then slowly exhaled. She felt almost instantaneously, how the nicotine began to take the edge off. She also felt the guilt as she watched the cigarette burn slowly between her fingers.

 _Fuck it!_ Chloe placed the cigarette back between her lips and started the truck.

**To be continued...**


	5. Miracles and Meltdowns

**October 26, 2013, five days to Halloween**

Chloe was lying on the railroad tracks. The afternoon sky was clear and radiant. For once, life didn't seem grim and complicated. She could just enjoy the mild breeze of the autumn air. She cast her eyes on the small brunette, who was a few yards away, looking for photo opportunities.

Faint rumble on the tracks shook Chloe out of her thoughts. A train was coming. Chloe moved into a sitting position and was about to stand up, when she realized that her foot was stuck between the tracks.

Chloe yanked her leg but it wouldn't move. She tried to take her boot off but the foot was stuck so tightly that it just wouldn't come out. She turned to look down the tracks to see the train coming towards her in the distance.

"Max!" Chloe shouted. "I'm stuck!"

Max stepped a few steps towards Chloe, then stopped and started taking aim with her camera.

"Max, put the camera away and come to help me!" Chloe shouted frantically. "The train is coming!"

"Hold on a sec, this'll make a great shot," Max just said and smiled.

"Stop fucking with the camera, and come to help me!" Chloe shouted as she watched the train to approach and blow its horn.

"Don't worry," Max said. "I'll just take this shot and rewind. You won't remember a thing."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Chloe asked astounded. "Put the fucking camera away and come to pull me off right now!"

"Trust me, it'll be fine!" Max just shouted.

"Max..." Chloe said incredulously. She could only watch as the brunette calmly took aim with her camera.

Chloe didn't dare to look at the train, which had started its futile effort to brake before the impact. The rumbling sound came closer every second, accompanied by screeching and hornblows.

Chloe felt the impact just as Max pressed the trigger and everything went out in a bright flash.

Chloe blinked her eyes and looked around. She was lying on the floor next to her bed. _I'm not dead,_ she thought. _It was just a bad dream._

"Chloe, honey. Everything ok?" She heard her mother asking and knocking on the door.

"I'm ok, Mom! I just fell out of the bed!" Chloe said.

"Breakfast is ready!" Joyce said behind the door.

"I'll be right down!" Chloe said and heard her mother walk down the stairs.

She sat on the side of the bed. This wasn't the first time she had nightmares since her resurrection. All of them were about the occasions she had died or almost died. The difference was that instead of trying to help, Max had done something completely bizarre.

Why Chloe was seeing these nightmares, was no mystery. Deep inside, she still feared that she might lose Max. It was also one of the reasons why she chose to give Max space instead of trying to make her open up. Chloe feared that if she pushed too hard, it would drive Max away. For her it would be the final blow.

Chloe walked into the upstairs bathroom to wash her face and apply a fresh layer of deodorant onto her armpits. Shower could wait until later. She returned to her room and got dressed. Pulling the beanie to cover her blue locks, she walked down the stairs and to the kitchen, where Joyce was frying eggs and bacon.

"Have you started smoking again?" Joyce asked, wrinkling her nose, when Chloe walked past her.

"Yeah, having a bit of a relapse," Chloe responded, slightly annoyed by her mother's critical tone. She stopped however and turned the face the older woman. "Look, sorry. I'm a bit disappointed at me too," she said more amicably. "I promise to smoke outside, until I can give another go at quitting."

"It's all right, honey," Joyce said. "It wasn't easy for me either, when I quit. I had the best incentive, though – you." She smiled to her daughter.

Chloe looked at her mother surprised. "I didn't even know you used to smoke."

"Oh, I had my reckless youth like anyone else," Joyce chuckled. "It was actually your father who got me to settle down. Sweet Bill, nothing could rock his boat," she said wistfully.

"I can second that," Chloe said. "I can't remember Dad getting upset about anything."

"Not that you didn't try with all the stunts you and Max pulled," Joyce grinned. "Speaking of, how are things between you and Max? I take this temporary relapse has something to do with her."

"Yeah, kinda," Chloe said. "It's complicated."

"Chloe, honey." Joyce looked her daughter straight in the eyes. "When you're in relationship with someone, things have a tendency to get complicated."

Chloe was even more surprised. "You… know?"

Joyce Madsen put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "I've lived long enough to tell the difference between best friends and a couple," she said smiling. "You two most certainly fall into the latter category."

"And I thought we were being discreet about it," Chloe said, blushing slightly.

"Well, you've always been pretty free range regarding your sexuality," Joyce said. "But I have to admit that Max caught me a little by surprise. Still, I couldn't imagine a better partner for my little girl."

"Does David know?" Chloe asked.

"He'll know, when you're ready to tell him," Joyce answered. "I wouldn't be too worried about David, though. He once ranted me about how stupid the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy is. His unit lost a couple of very competent soldiers because they decided to come out."

"I'm beginning to understand, why you married him," Chloe said to her and sat at the dinner table.

Joyce smiled as she set the plates of bacon and eggs on the dinner table. "David is more than his rugged and straightforward appearance."

"Do I hear my name being said?" David Madsen asked, when he came in through the door leading into the garage. "Morning, ladies!"

"Morning, David," Joyce answered. "Have you been in the garage all morning?"

"Yeah, I've been servicing the Valiant's carburetor. It has trouble running on idle," David answered and sat at the table.

Chloe looked at her stepfather. She knew that David had not been working on his Valiant. If he had, his hands wouldn't be clean enough to come to the breakfast table without a visit to the bathroom. Washing the hands at the garage sink would've been out of the question since the tap was broken. Chloe could hazard a guess what David had actually been doing, so she let out a semi-smile that went unnoticed by his stepfather. If her guess was right, it meant she wouldn't have to bring the issue of surveillance cameras up with him.

"Dave, can I ask you a favor?" Chloe asked instead.

"Depends," David answered. "What do you need?"

"Could you look into Julia Bennett?"

"What for, if I may ask?" David raised his eyebrow.

"Max is still pretty freaked about the whole deal with Nathan and Jefferson and she is seeing spooks everywhere," Chloe explained. "Maybe it would help to put her at ease, if there was hard evidence to show that there is nothing mysterious in Bennett's past or that she is in no way connected to Mark Jefferson."

David looked at her stepdaughter dubiously for a moment, before he nodded. "I suppose I could do some digging, but I can't make any promises."

"Thanks, man! I really appreciate it," Chloe said. "One thing, though. Not a word to Max."

"Yeah, sure," David said.

Chloe finished her breakfast and excused herself. She hoped that she had given enough hints for David so that he would be able to find the true identity of Julia and her connection to Jefferson. Of course that information wasn't enough to put her in jail but hopefully it would be enough for Blackwell to terminate her temporary post prematurely. With Julia out of the picture, Max would have one less thing on her mind.

 _Oh, who the fuck am I kidding?_ By the time David would be able to put all the pieces together, Julia's substitution would have probably ended anyway, and Max would still be a nervous wreck.

Chloe felt the frustration building inside her. She stopped in the middle of stairs and turned around. She walked through the living room to the backyard and her old swing. She sat down, picked a cigarette from the pack and lit up. In her mind's eye, she could see the window that had existed in the alternate timeline and her paralyzed counterpart lying on the bed and watching her disapprovingly.

 _Oh, what the fuck do you know about_ my _life anyway?_ Chloe thought angrily and brushed the thought away.

* * *

David looked bemusedly, as his stepdaughter turned on her heels in the middle of the stairs, marched outside and lit up. He turned to look at his wife, who put her hand on his shoulder.

"Quitting smoking is never easy, especially, if you have issues to process," Joyce said to her husband. "We got to give her time."

"Yeah, I suppose," David concurred. "Thanks for breakfast, honey!" David rose from the table and kissed his wife gently.

David walked back into the garage. He was still feeling a sting in his conscience about the white lie he had said. Instead of servicing the Valiant, he'd actually spent the morning decoupling most of the cameras from the home surveillance system, leaving just the ones surveying the yard, the garage and the front and rear entrances. He had also dismantled all the decoupled cameras.

At first, it had seemed a good idea to survey every part of the house as he wanted to keep his family safe. After the whole Jefferson case had unraveled, David had come to other thoughts. Even though his intentions were good, surveying the residence exhaustively broke both Joyce's and Chloe's privacy. If he wanted to have a family, he had to be able to trust his family members without extra assurance. Therefore the cameras needed to come down.

Now he sat at his laptop and typed in the password. The requests from both her daughter and her friend made him pensive. Both wanted him to look into Julia Bennett based on a hunch and both wanted him to not to tell the other.

David was pretty sure that both girls knew more than they were letting him into. The most likely reason was that they both wanted plausible deniability for whatever reason. Basically they wanted him to reach the same conclusion that they already had reached. The key of course was to find the connection between Julia Bennett and Mark Jefferson, which Chloe had not so subtly pointed out.

Why they both had approached him separately without the other knowing was another thing. When one added Chloe's sudden relapse to the equation, it was pretty easy to deduct that the girls had mutual issues that they needed to get sorted out.

 _Well, can't do much for the second thing but let's see what I can find out about Jefferson and Ms. Bennett,_ he thought as he opened a VPN connection to the Blackwell intranet.

* * *

Max was standing at the end of a track, flanked by two handrails. The track was about ten feet long and used as a rehabilitation course for people recovering from leg injuries or operations. She had started the rehabilitation program as soon as she had been able to move her leg. It still hurt like hell, when she tried to put weight on her injured leg and there was no way it could carry her without support.

 _Ok, Caulfield, let's get this over with,_ Max thought as she put her crutches aside and took support on the railings. She first mostly dragged her injured leg about half a step forward, then moved her hands forward on the rails and put weight on the injured leg to move her good leg. She gasped through clenched teeth from the pain as she took the step. Again, she took a half-dragged step with her injured leg, moved her hands and prepared herself for the slashing pain with the next step.

Max repeated the sequence until she reached the other end of the track. She turned around and went through the whole ordeal to the other direction. Max kept repeating this for half an hour, until she just didn't have the strength to do more. She sat down on a chair and panted. The injured leg was aching and she'd had to take a pain killer as soon as she got back to the dorm.

The door opened and a nurse entered the room. "Hey, Max! How many rounds today?" she asked.

"Hi Alice!" Max greeted her back. "Fifteen," she managed to say between panting and grimaced.

"Still painful, huh?" Alice asked. "Want me to give something for that?"

"No thanks," Max answered. "I still need to drive back to the dorm."

"Suit yourself," Alice said and walked to the door. "See you on Monday at physio."

"Sure thing," Max said.

Max took her crutches and stood up. She limped to the dressing room. A few feet before her locker, the other crutch got stuck with a bench foot and the brunette fell on the floor.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Max swore out loud. "I'm so fucking sick and tired of these crutches and this pain! I wish..." She fell silent and looked at her hands. _Could I..._

She had reversed time on inanimate objects but could she also do it on living things? What about her memories? As tempting as the thought of being totally oblivious about all the shit that had gone down during the last few weeks or during the years spent in an alternate timeline might have sounded, there were good things too that she would've not wanted to let go. One good thing, to be precise, which totally overweighed the bad things.

 _I wonder if I could restrict the effect of the rewind to a limited area?_ That might work but she first needed to test the rewind on a living object and she knew the perfect test subject but for that she needed to get back to the dorm.

* * *

Victoria was at the Arcadia Bay Library, using one of the library's computers to access the Arcadia Bay Beacon archive. She could've accessed the archive from her own computer too but that would've required purchasing a subscription of the paper. Here, she could use the library's account to access the archive.

Victoria wanted to find out who the mystery spirit was. Her only clue was his faint memory of being driving somewhere. That would imply that he had ended up in a traffic accident, which had killed him.

Victoria didn't know when the possible accident had happened, so she searched for traffic accidents with casualties within the last ten years.

The search resulted with 35 hits. Victoria started from the oldest ones, dating back to 2003. She went the articles through one by one, until she found the right one from 2008. 'A father died in car crash', said the headline. Victoria immediately recognized the man in the picture to be the spirit. She gasped, when she read the caption: 'William Price is survived by his wife Joyce and their daughter Chloe'.

 _Oh my goodness!_ Victoria covered her mouth with her hand. The spirit was Chloe's father. He had been roaming the streets of Arcadia Bay aimlessly for five years.

Victoria quickly read through the article. A drunk driver had driven through a stop sign and straight into William's side. William had died on the spot. Also the drunk driver had succumbed to his wounds later. He had not worn a seatbelt and flown through the windshield.

Victoria printed the article on paper and signed off from the computer. She would need to show this to William.

* * *

Max was back in her dorm room. She had hardly had time to change clothes at the hospital, so anxious she was to see, if she would be able to heal her leg by rewinding it.

Max limped to Lisa, her plant that was in the room corner. She felt enormous guilt as she looked at the plant that had withered to death due to her negligence. Max put her hands around the jar and focused. Slowly, the bent stem began to straighten and the browned leafs began to regain their green hue. A few moments later Lisa was again lush.

 _Wowser!_ Max looked at the revived plant in amazement. _This is beyond amazeballs!_

Max went to her desk and sat down. She took a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled lines all over the paper. Max took the paper in her hands and focused on the right half of the paper. She could see how the scribbles erased themselves on the right half but stayed on the left half. Soon, one half was squeaky clean while the other half was still filled with scribbles.

 _It works!_ Max thought as she looked at the paper.

Max took her diary, a post-it note and the pen and limped over to the couch, where she sat. She was still wary about trying to heal her leg with the rewind. Luckily, despite everything, she had been keeping her diary, accounting everything that had happened after the shooting in this timeline and the others, including a summary of the four years. It was more or less grim reading. In case she would lose her memory, she could at least get up to speed what was going on. Max added one more entry about her attempt to try to heal her leg with rewind. She closed the diary and put the post-it note on the cover, typing: 'Read me 1st!" on it.

Max pulled her pants down, revealing the scarred wound on her left thigh. She put her hands on top of the wound and focused on her thigh. She could see how granulation began to form over the scar, then disappear again, revealing a freshly stitched surgical wound. Max watched in awe how the stitch knots opened and disappeared, opening the wound wide open. To her surprise, hardly any blood was forming into the wound and even that appeared to flow back into the vessels. She continued focusing and saw how the surgical cuts began to bud shut, leaving just the bullet hole, which in turn reduced and finally disappeared.

Max looked at her thigh. The formerly scarred thigh was now flawless. She let go of her thigh and slowly tried to lift and straighten her leg. Without a slightest hint of pain the leg rose and straightened.

Max set her foot back down on the floor and stood up slowly. She could feel a burst of joy rising inside her as she was once again standing on her two own feet. Max closed her eyes as she didn't dare to look, when she timidly took the first step. She braced herself to fall on the floor, when she put weight on the leg. She couldn't believe it to be true, when the fall never came. Max opened her eyes slowly to see that she was standing and balancing on the same leg that earlier couldn't take her weight even when supported.

 _Oh. My. God!_ Max thought as she slowly began taking steps, gradually advancing to trotting and beyond until she was bouncing around in her room out of joy. Max leaped to her stereo and turned it on. 'Let's Dance' by David Bowie was playing on the local radio station.

"Let's dance indeed!" Max shouted and jumped on her couch. She moved wildly in the rhythm of the music from one end of the couch to the other. Suddenly she felt her nose starting to bleed. She touched her upper lip and saw the blood stains in her finger. The next moment a slashing pain hit through her head. Max grasped her temples in agony. She managed to step down from the couch before everything went black.

* * *

Chloe walked upstairs to her room. She'd spent the afternoon running errands and doing small odd jobs to get some extra cash and also to get something else to think about. It had not been very lucrative on neither front. Chloe could hardly cover the spent gas with the money she had earned and her mind had revolved around Max, and her own issues.

When Chloe was looking at her room, she didn't recognize it to be _her_ room. Sure, it contained all her belongings and the walls were covered with posters and tags, but everything else was different. All the items that had used to lie all over the floor had been collected and put in drawers or on shelves. The floor had been thoroughly vacuumed and mopped. The desk and shelves had been wiped and the bed had been made. All the dirty clothes were nicely put into the laundry basket, which in order resided inside the closet. The windows had been wiped clean and the Stars and Stripes on the other window had been replaced by regular curtains.

Chloe could hardly remember the time, when her room had been this clean. She knew exactly who had done the cleaning, as she had spent most of the morning vacuuming, mopping and arranging the room. She remembered clearly having done it, but it wasn't until now that she realized that she had done it.

Chloe walked across the room to the window that had the new curtains. Chloe knew that the room of her paralyzed counterpart had always been nice and tidy. Of course it had been her parents that kept it clean but apparently the alternate Chloe had appreciated cleanliness more than she did.

Chloe felt rage starting to build inside her. While she could appreciate the insight that the memories of her paralyzed counterpart could offer, she wasn't at all happy about her characteristics taking hold.

"What right do you have to do this?" Chloe shouted angrily and tore the curtains down. "I am not you!" She grasped the bed cover and pulled it on the floor. Screaming and swearing, she strode to the closet and threw all her clothes from the hanger next to the bed cover. A moment later, the contents of Chloe's drawers followed.

"You fucking cunt! There's room for only one Price in this body and that's me!" she kept yelling as she pulled her CDs from the shelves. With that, she collapsed on the floor, panting and hanging her head down.

"Why can't I just be the old, care-free Chloe?" she asked, sobbing. "Why can't I be the old, self-centered, moody, stubborn bitch that I was?"

"'Cause Max deserves better, that's why," she answered to herself.

Chloe dried her eyes, stood up slowly and began to put everything back in place.

* * *

The first thing she registered was that someone was frantically calling her name.

"Max!"

The second thing was that she was being shaken.

"Max, please wake up!"

Max opened her eyes and saw Kate leaning over her and gripping her shoulders.

"Kate..." she whispered groggily.

"Max, thank god, you're awake!" Kate said and backed off to give the brunette some space. "What happened?"

Max felt her upper lip. The blood coming from her nose had already dried. She turned to look at Kate who was staring at her with a concerned look on her face.

"I... my nose started bleeding and I must've passed out," Max said, omitting the events that had lead to the nosebleed.

"That sounds pretty serious," Kate said, clearly shocked. "Should I take you to the ER to have a doctor to take look at you?"

"Thanks for the offer but that's not really necessary," Max assured. "This happens from time to time. It looks worse than it is." The truth, of course, was pretty much the opposite.

"If you say so," Kate said and looked at Max's bare thigh. "The doctors did a great job patching up your leg. You can barely see the scar."

"The scar..." Max looked at her thigh and grasped what having rewound the wound out of existence would mean. Not only she was still bound to use the crutches for an undetermined period whenever she was in public, she would also have to make sure that no one would ever see her non-existent wound.

 _Oh crap!_ Max quickly grabbed her sweatpants and pulled them on. "Yeah, they did pretty amazing job," she said. "Would you pass me the crutches?"

"Sure." Kate helped the brunette back up and gave her the crutches.

"Thank you, Kate," Max said and limped on the sofa, where Kate joined her. "We really haven't had a chance to talk after the shooting. How are you holding up?"

"I suppose I'm better now than I was a few weeks ago," Kate said and sighed.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there for you, when you needed the most," Max said and took Kate's hand in her own.

"No need to apologize, Max." Kate smiled to the brunette. "You were going through hard times yourself. I'm still a bit surprised that Victoria decided to confess having put up the video and ask for forgiveness. I'm glad she did, though."

"Yeah, beneath that bitchy shell of hers, Victoria is a pretty diverse person," Max admitted. "Chloe told me that she had dragged Victoria to your room and locked you in, although I think she would've eventually come by her own accord."

"Nevertheless, it's a relief to know that the way I behaved back at the party, wasn't my fault. What happened afterwards..." Kate's voice trailed off.

"Do you remember anything about it?"

"Not much," Kate said. "I can barely remember that Nathan walked me to his truck. After that, the next thing I remember was that Nathan dropped me at the dorm." She crossed her arms. "If the police hadn't shown me the pictures, I would've never known what Jefferson and Nathan did to me."

Max placed her arm around her friend. She could remember only glimpses of the session, before she had come to and David had rescued her, but even those few moments had left her broken. Max hoped that Kate would never have to relive what she had gone through in any way.

"I felt so ashamed, when they had to perform the rape test to me at the hospital," Kate whispered. "It came out negative but I can't help thinking what I would have done, if it had been positive."

Max pulled Kate closer and squeezed her tightly. She knew all too well what just the ending up in the video had made the devout girl to do. Had she been raped, no talk and apologies would've got her down from that roof.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all that," Max whispered back.

"Thank you, Max." Kate turned to face her. "For caring."

"Whenever you need, my door is open for you," Max said, smiling.

A rattling sound against the window caught their attention. Almost pea sized hails were hitting the window. Kate walked to the window and Max almost followed straight after but she stopped and took the crutches. She limped next to the smaller girl who was looking out the window in awe.

The whole Arcadia Bay was waled by what must be the most severe hailstorm Max remembered ever seeing. It was so intense that one could hardly see a few yards further. The ground was already covered by the tiny ice orbs and more kept coming.

"Funny, the forecast didn't say anything about a hailstorm," Kate said.

Max gasped silently and felt her thigh. _Oh my god! What have I done?_

* * *

Julia Bennett was just going to drive back to the hotel from the warehouse, when the hailstorm began. She walked to the door and cracked it open a few inches and pulled it again shut. She'd have to wait here until the storm would calm down.

Julia had spent most of the day at the warehouse, doing preparations. She would have an early start tomorrow as she would need to make a round trip to Seattle. With luck, she would be back in Arcadia Bay before nightfall.

* * *

Chloe finished installing the curtains. Her room was again in the condition it had been before her meltdown. She sat on the bed and leaned back.

 _Well, it certainly does look hella cozier,_ Chloe thought. _Certainly a place you can invite your girlfriend._ She lied down and closed her eyes.

Chloe opened her eyes again as she became aware of the rattling sound against the roof. She looked out the window to see the shower of hail. While a hailstorm in October wasn't unheard of, Chloe couldn't help thinking that this wasn't just a coincidence.

_Max, what have you done?_

**To be continued...**


	6. False Conclusions

**October 27, 2013, four days to Halloween**

Max opened her eyes slowly to a new morning. She felt brisk. This was the first night after the shooting that she had been able to get a good night's sleep. The aching wound had kept her awake during the nights despite of pain killers. Now that the wound was gone, she had slept like the dead. Not even nightmares had bothered her.

Max felt her thigh for the umpteenth time. She still couldn't quite believe that she had been able to heal her leg by rewinding the wound out of existence. Her bright mood gloomed a bit, when she thought about yesterday's hailstorm. The storm had lasted only for about quarter of an hour but it had been massive, almost overwhelming.

Max was certain that the storm was somehow related to her new powers. There was no telling whether this was just a single anomaly or an overture to an apocalyptic cataclysm. There was little that she could to about it now, other than to refrain using her powers and hope that this wouldn't escalate to something worse.

She walked to the window and looked out. The hails had already melted and save for a few snapped branches there was no sign of yesterday's storm.

Max thought about her last meeting with Chloe. She felt really bad having driven Chloe away, especially when she had been right all along. Without any evidence, there wasn't much they could do about Julia Bennett. They should however to try to find out whether she was somehow involved with Janice Smith's disappearance.

There was one thing that Max needed to do, even though it wouldn't be easy or pleasant. She would need to apologize Chloe and tell her about her new powers.

* * *

Victoria had spent most of the morning looking out the window, hoping to see William. The article had shown her how little she actually knew about Max Caulfield's girlfriend. Victoria was aware that David Madsen was Chloe's stepfather but she had always assumed that Chloe's parent's had simply divorced and Chloe's mother had remarried. It made Victoria wonder how much different Chloe might have turned out, if William had not died.

Victoria cast another glance through the window to no avail and was startled, when she turned around to see William standing in front of her.

"Jeez! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Victoria blurted to the spirit.

"Sorry about that," William said. "I sensed that you needed me, so I came."

"Well, you certainly took your time," Victoria said. "I've spent the whole morning looking through that window."

"Well, this a bit of a new thing to me too, so I hope you'll excuse my tardiness," William said resentfully.

"Sorry about that," Victoria relented. "You're here now, that's what matters." She looked at William. "I figured out your identity."

"You know who I am?" William asked enthusiastically.

Victoria took the printed article and held it in front of him.

"Your name is William Price," Victoria said. "You died in a car accident five years ago. You have - had a wife called Joyce and a daughter called Chloe."

William eyed through the article and lifted his eyes blankly.

"I take your word that this is about me," William said. "The man in the picture or the name doesn't ring any bells. I can't remember how I look and I'm not able to view myself in any mirror as there is no reflection."

"Oh, I didn't realize that," Victoria said. "I wonder, if there's anything else that could help you remember?"

"The article said that I have a daughter," William said. "Maybe if I saw her, I could remember."

"I know your daughter," Victoria said hesitantly. "But I don't know how I could break this to her without her thinking I'm completely nuts."

"Do you have a picture of her?" William asked.

"No, we don't exactly mingle in the same circles," Victoria answered. "But I may have an idea, how to get it," she said, smiling self-confidently.

* * *

John Korhonen and Stacy Kowalski were sitting at their desks. They were still going through Janice Smith's call records and messaging.

"Hey, Finn," Kowalski said to the older detective. "There are phone calls and emails to and from one Julia Bennett from the preceding weeks of Janice's disappearance."

"Julia Bennett, the photographer?" Finn asked.

"I suppose so," Kowalski said. "Janice Smith is a photography student, so it would make sense."

"I'll give her a call and ask her to come over," Finn said and lifted the headset of the desktop phone. "Will you give me her number?"

* * *

Julia Bennett was driving on the I-5 towards Seattle, when her phone rang. She tapped the information screen of her Tesla to answer.

"Julia Bennett," she said to the integrated hands-free microphone.

"Ms. Bennett, this is detective John Korhonen from the Seattle Police Department," a man's voice said on the car loudspeakers.

"How can I help you detective?" Julia asked.

"Sorry to bother you on Sunday, but I was wondering, if you could come by at the First Hill Precinct some time tomorrow?"

"May I ask why?"

"We are investigating a missing person case, a photography student named Janice Smith. We've been going through her recent communication and your name and number came up."

"Good heavens!" Julia gasped. "Yes, we've called and emailed a few times."

"We'd like to ask you a couple of questions regarding that."

"I- of course," Julia said slightly haltingly. "But it would have to be today. I'm currently on a work assignment out of town and I'm just temporarily back in Seattle."

"That's fine by us."

"I'll be there in an hour."

"See you then. Ask for detective Korhonen or detective Kowalski, when you get here."

"All right, bye." Julia ended the call. She let out a frustrated sigh. This would affect her schedule at least two, maybe three hours. She wouldn't be back in Arcadia Bay before nightfall.

 _Well, it can't be helped, can it?_ Julia thought and set the First Hill Precinct as her destination into the navigator.

* * *

Chloe was at her laptop doing the preliminary assignments for Arcadia High, which would enable her to start the spring semester with the rest of the seniors. It felt weird to be doing schoolwork after such a long pause, especially since she was now actually motivated to do it. Before her father's death, Chloe had been one of the top students of her class. When William had died, Chloe was too angry to give a rat's ass about school. Her grades had dropped rapidly and her escapades had soon got her expelled from Blackwell.

_Bling!_

Chloe looked at her phone that was chiming and vibrating for an incoming message next to her laptop. She lifted her eyebrows, when she saw the message.

**You have contact request from Victoria Chase (QnB). Accept?**

' _QnB'. Figures,_ Chloe sneered. _It must be something important; otherwise she wouldn't bother to make a contact request._ She accepted the pending invitation.

**Chloe: What is it?**

**QnB: Need 2 talk about Max. Can we meet?**

Chloe looked wistfully at Victoria's request. Why was Victoria all of a sudden concerned about Max? _Must be something to do with Max's behavior on Bennett's class._

**Chloe: Ok, let's meet.**

**QnB: Hip Bean Cafe 3:30.**

**Chloe: TTYL.**

Chloe stared at her phone. She would've never thought that Victoria would want to voluntarily be in her presence, much less talk to her, especially, when she had dragged Victoria by force into Kate's room and told them to sort out their issues.

 _Anyhoo, can't have more distractions, if I want to get this assignment done before I meet Victoria,_ Chloe thought. She logged out of chat and put her phone on silent.

* * *

"Ms. Bennett," detective John Korhonen said. "As I said on the phone, we are investigating the disappearance of Janice Smith, who was last seen on the 22nd."

"We've tried to track her whereabouts and contacts from the preceding days," detective Stacy Kowalski continued. "According to Ms. Smith's call records and emails, she's been in recent contact with you, therefore we asked you to come over."

"We want to emphasize that you are not being heard as a suspect in this matter," Finn said. "We would be grateful for any information that might shed some light to Ms. Smith's whereabouts."

"Of course," Julia Bennett said to them sympathetically. "Anything to help find poor Janice."

"How well do you know Ms. Smith?" Finn asked.

"I met Janice a little over two weeks ago at the Everyday Heroes exhibition in San Francisco," Julia began. "I went to see the winning entries and to do some networking. I really liked Janice's entry, so I went to have a chat. It turned out that Janice was from Seattle like me, so we've been calling and emailing a few times."

"Did you see her in person after San Francisco?" Kowalski asked in turn.

"No, we were planning to have lunch in the near future, when I last called her."

"That was the 20th?" Finn looked from the call records.

"That's correct."

"Did she talk about going on a trip somewhere?" Kowalski asked.

"Nothing specific," Julia said after thinking a moment. "Although she did mention that she had made friends with Victoria Chase, who is a student at Blackwell Academy in Arcadia Bay. I'm actually teaching photography over there for a short period of time."

"Blackwell Academy…" Kowalski interrupted her. "Isn't that where the photography teacher and one student were arrested and charged for drugging and sexually abusing some of the female students. The student involved was also charged for involuntary homicide and an attempted homicide."

"Yes, Mark Jefferson," Julia said. "I read about it. A sad case."

"Do you know Mr. Jefferson?" Finn asked.

"I've met him on a few occasions but it's been a while since I've last seen him," Julia said expressionlessly. "I could've never imagined him to be capable of such horrible things."

"How did you end up in Blackwell?" Kowalski asked.

"I met Ms. Chase in San Francisco. She introduced me to Mrs. Grant who is the acting principal at Blackwell. Mrs. Grant asked me, if I would be willing to hold a few lectures over there," Julia explained. "I saw an opportunity to use some of the students' material in the next issue of La Vida, so I agreed."

"Did your contract end or are you going back there?"

"I have to drive back to Arcadia Bay this evening."

Finn exchanged a quick glance with his partner. "In that case, we won't be holding you any longer. Thank you for your help, Ms. Bennett."

"Glad to help," Julia said and stood up. "I hope you find Janice in good health."

"We hope so too," Finn said. "Please, don't hesitate to call, if you remember something."

"Yes, of course." Julia took her belongings and walked to the door.

"I'll see you out," Kowalski offered but Julia raised her arm in refusal.

"You're too kind, but there's no need. I'll find my way out," she said and closed the door behind her.

"What do you think," Finn asked after a moment.

"I don't know," Stacy said. "Call it woman's instinct, but there's something off with Ms. Bennett. I just can't put my finger on it."

"Maybe it's cop's instinct, because I'm getting similar vibes from her," Finn agreed. "Maybe we should look into Ms. Bennett more in-depth."

* * *

"I'm here only just because someone I once met told that you aren't the bitch that you so hard pretend to be, so cut to the chase!" Chloe Price looked sternly at Victoria Chase.

"'Cut to the chase.' That's priceless!" Victoria sneered and took a sip from her latte. "Well, I certainly could spend my free time better than sitting with the person who dragged and locked me into a room against my will. However, we must put our differences aside as there is a pressing matter we need to discuss." She pushed a cup of coffee to the punk sitting opposite to her. "I took the liberty of ordering you a drink. I take that regular coffee is your thing?"

"You got that right," Chloe said and tasted the steaming hot beverage. "What pressing matter you want to talk about?"

"I'm worried about Max," Victoria said.

Chloe almost burst the coffee out of her mouth. "Since when have you started to care about Max's well-being?"

"Look, I don't know who told you that I'm not he bitch that I pretend to be but I admit that there is some truth to it," the blonde said.

Chloe smiled behind the cup of coffee she had brought to her lips. In fact it had been Victoria in the other timeline, who had said it. "Ok, I'm listening."

"Ever since the shooting and the whole Jefferson deal, Max been acting all weird. She's either gloomy or wound up, and lately she's been just straight up aggressive and paranoid. - I mean, having been shot is one thing, but in the end, Max just happened to be in a wrong place at a wrong time." Victoria paused for a moment to catch her breath and take another sip from her latte. "I'm afraid that she'll end up doing something that gets her kicked out of school or worse."

Chloe did her best to keep a calm expression, when she listened to the blonde's ranting. In reality, she was in a turmoil of emotions. She scolded herself for failing to see how bad a shape Max actually was in, and for not being more persistent with her.

"I know I won't be able to get through to her, but maybe you will, since you're her... closest friend," the blonde cast a pleading look to the bluenette.

Chloe looked sharply at Victoria. She had not missed the momentary pause at the end of the blonde's words. Was her relationship with Max actually so obvious or was it just a coincidence? Nevertheless, that had to wait until some other time. Max was the issue here.

"Look, Victoria," Chloe finally said. "I am aware of what state Max is in. I am also aware of the reasons that have driven Max where she is now."

"Reasons?" Victoria asked. "You mean there are other things, besides the shooting?"

"I'm not in liberty to tell you any details, but Nathan shooting Max and the Jefferson case is just a part of a bigger picture, where Max has had a major role and that's taking its toll on her," the bluenette explained calmly to emphasize the seriousness of the issue. "This doesn't mean that Max wouldn't need our help. She's currently way over her head with all the shit she's going through and she acts upon her emotions, rather than reason."

"What do you suggest that we do then?"

I'll talk to her," Chloe said. "I more or less know what's on her mind. She just needs to get it out, and take a step back from it all."

Victoria listened to the punk's talk in awe. "You know, Price, I always thought you were all 'hella' and swagger," she said, grinning. "This is a whole new side of you."

Chloe smirked. "It's always been there. I've just kept it hidden under a fuckton of anger and disappointment. Besides, there seems to be a decent person hiding under a fuckton of bitchiness, if I'm not mistaken."

"Touché." Victoria smiled awkwardly.

"Look, as much I enjoyed having this conversation, I really should go and check up on Max," Chloe said finishing her coffee.

"Wait!" Victoria reached out for the punk. "Before you leave, I have one request. Could I take a picture of you, please?"

Chloe looked at the blonde suspiciously. "What'd you need my picture for?"

"Look, I really can't tell you yet but I promise it's nothing dubious and weird," Victoria pleaded. "Please?"

"Hey, whatever rocks your boat," Chloe shrugged her shoulders.

Victoria took her iPhone and aimed it at the punk. She lowered the phone however and cast a condescending glance at the bluenette. "Would it be too much to ask if you smiled for the camera?"

"Whatever," Chloe said and flashed her best yearbook smile.

* * *

Max was sitting in her room and staring at her phone, trying to gather enough courage to contact Chloe and meet her. She had been trying to push it off for the whole morning with the most imaginative excuses. Max had cleaned her room, gone to the shower and even finished two school assignments. Now she was at a point she couldn't push it any further.

She took one salty liquorice coin from the candy bag and opened the messaging app, only to see that Chloe wasn't online.

 _I guess I have to do it the old fashioned way,_ Max thought and tried to call Chloe. The punk was not answering.

 _I wonder if she's mad at me._ They had not parted on good terms the other day. _Can't really blame her, if she is._

Max sat on her couch for a moment. She really needed to be with Chloe right now. She needed to make sure that she hadn't ruined the one good thing in her life. Chloe was the one thing that held Max on the brink of sanity.

 _I have to find her!_ Max grabbed her bag and walked to the door. She almost opened the door, before she saw the crutches leaning against the wall. Max sighed deep, took the crutches and opened the door.

Max sat on the driver's seat of the Ranchero and started the engine. As the small block was running silently, Max thought about what route to take. She'd first drive by the Two Whales. If Chloe wasn't there, she'd head to the Price/Madsen residence and then to the American Rust. Max should find Chloe in one of those places.

Max rolled out of the parking lot. She drove slowly towards the main street, thinking, what she would say to the bluenette, when she finally met her.

When she drove past the Hip Bean Cafe, she saw Chloe's truck on the parking lot.

 _What is Chloe doing at the Hip Bean?_ Max thought, when she parked in front of the coffee shop. She was just about to step out of the car, when she saw Chloe, posing and smiling to Victoria.

 _Chloe is with Victoria, she's with Victoria of all people!_ The thought kept swirling around in Max's head.

 _She finally got tired of me!_ Max thought and couldn't hide her shock, when she was watching the two young women through the window.

 _I need to get away from here!_ Max started the engine again and backed on the street. The tires squealed momentarily as she accelerated away.

* * *

Chloe stopped her truck at the Blackwell Academy parking lot. She couldn't see the blue Ranchero at its usual spot. Chloe tried to look around but the truck was nowhere to be found.

Chloe had driven straight from the coffee shop to the academy in order to talk to Max but the brunette was obviously not there as her truck was gone.

Chloe took her phone and remembered that she had set it on silent. She saw that there was a missed call from Max. Chloe tried calling back but the brunette didn't answer. She also went online with the messaging app but saw that Max was offline for her part.

_Where are you Maxaroni?_

* * *

Julia Bennett closed the door behind the warehouse. She had returned from Seattle about an hour ago with the last items she needed. Julia had been able to bring everything with one go as all of it would've not fit in the Tesla. She also needed to have the preparations finished for the remaining items. Hence she had made the round trip to Seattle today.

Julia locked the warehouse door and walked to her car. Everything would be ready for the next phase. She turned the electric car on and headed back to the hotel. She would have liked to call it a day but there were still things that needed to get done before tomorrow. Luckily there wouldn't be lessons before noon, so she could sleep in.

**To be continued...**


	7. Behold Your Creation

**October 28, 2013, three days to Halloween**

Max was in the dark room, bound to the chair and facing the couch on the opposite side of a small table. Chloe and Victoria were sitting on the couch, bad-mouthing the brunette and making out.

Max realized that this was a nightmare as the setting was the same as it had been the first time she saw it. She also realized that she was seeing it because of what she had seen yesterday at the Hip Bean.

"Ok, been here, done this," Max said to the couple on the couch. "Can we please move on?"

"Did you hear something?" Victoria asked from Chloe with a smug tone in her voice.

"Nah, musta been the wind," Chloe answered also deliberately ignoring the brunette.

"Let me help you with that, darling," Julia Bennett said beside Max and placed two carefully aimed gunshots on the girls, leaving them lying dead on the couch.

"You!" Max gasped in horror. "You killed them!"

"Oh, you'll be better off without them, my dear Max," Julia said. "Neither could really show you the appreciation I did."

"Appreciation?" Max retorted. "You nearly killed me!"

"Let's not get stuck into details." Julia walked around Max's chair. "Feast your eyes on this fabulous room instead! Think of all the wonderful thiii..." Julia suddenly fell limp on the floor and Mark Jefferson was standing behind her with a syringe in his hands.

"Sorry Julia, - or should I say Joe," Mark said with smirk on his face to the lifeless body at his feet. "But this is my lair."

"Jefferson!" Max gasped in turn. "Did you…?"

"Don't be so surprised, Maxine," Mark sneered at the brunette. "Julia, like Nathan, was just a cheap imitator of my work. Did you think for a second I would allow Julia lay her hands on my masterpiece and let her live?"

"Y-your masterpiece…?"

"You, my dear Maxine." Mark walked in front of Max. "Ever since I saw you first time in my classroom, I wanted to capture you, capture that innocence, possess it, to have it all to myself."

"You will never have it!" Max said furiously.

"Don't you realize that I have already taken it." Mark walked behind Max's chair and bend next to her. "Even though you have undone the deed, the memory still remains. Like Julia and Nathan before you, I've taken your innocence and molded it into my vision."

Jefferson's words etched into Max's mind like acid. "You Bastard!" she growled.

"Enough talk! Let's begin, shall we?" Mark said and stuck a needle into Max's neck.

"NYAAGHH!" Max snapped awake. It took a moment before realized she was in her bed. She could feel a cold sweat on her forehead and she was shivering as the result of alcohol withdrawals and an arriving hang-over.

Max looked at the glass recycling container and the single empty bottle of Breezer in it. She had bought that bottle from the gas station yesterday. She couldn't remember exactly how many times she had refilled the bottle with her rewind powers but it must've been quite a few, based on the pounding that made her head feel like it would burst any moment.

Max had driven straight from the Hip Bean to the gas station outside the town limits and then back to the dorm and begun to drink to her agony. For a passing moment she had stopped to think that there might be a perfectly sound explanation to why Chloe was with Victoria at the coffee shop and why she was posing for the blonde. After a few more swigs, however, Max was certain that Chloe had finally grown tired of her obsession and was on a rebound with Victoria, just to spite her.

Max had heard the blonde to return to her room and had thought about barging in and confronting her but when she had stood up, she had realized that she could barely stand, much less walk. So she had just slumped back on the couch and made another refill.

 _Aaagh, life is so fucked up!_ Max's head hurt like hell at the moment but that was small compared to the empty feeling that she had in her heart. She felt hurt and inconsolable.

Max thought about her dream. The image of Mark Jefferson still loomed in the back of her head. He'd been right, though. No rewinding would take away the memories of that horrible night. Of course, she was now capable of rewinding her own body. She might be able to erase her own memories but the downside to that was that she would also erase the good memories with the bad, although she wasn't sure how much that actually mattered now.

 _No!_ Max brushed the thought off. She would need to get over Jefferson in another way, and that would mean facing him eye to eye. That would have to wait until afternoon, though. She stood up slowly and teetered over to the glass recycling container. She took the empty Breezer bottle in her hand and focused on it. When the bottle was again full, she sat on the couch.

"Here's to you, Chloe and Vic!" Max raised the bottle in salute. "Long life and happiness!" she said with a sardonic voice and took a long swig.

* * *

Chloe parked her truck next to Max's at the Blackwell parking lot. She had spent most of the night awake to see, if Max would come online or answer her phone. All the call attempts had resulted that the recipient was unreachable, meaning that Max had turned the phone off or the battery had died.

Chloe stepped out of the truck and tossed a smoldering cigarette butt onto the ground and treaded it with her boot. She walked across the yard to the dormitory and into the girls' wing. She arrived behind Max's door and knocked.

"Whaddya want?" Chloe heard Max say from the inside.

"Max, it's Chloe! Can I come in?" the punk shouted through the door.

"Wha'ever, s'open," the voice said behind the door.

Chloe stepped inside Max's room to see the brunette sitting on the couch, wearing a t-shirt and panties, with a half-empty bottle of Breezer in her hand. The look on the brunette's face was something between indifferent and aversive.

"Jesus, Max, have you been drinking the whole night?" Chloe asked, when she saw that the brunette was clearly intoxicated.

"Ah dunno, Chloe," Max slurred and wrinkled her nose. "Have you been smoking?"

"What d'you think?" the punk asked resentfully. "I've been worried sick about you!"

"Oh really?" Max asked sardonically. "I mean aren't you at the wrong door? Vic's door is across the corridor," she said and stood up? "Don't try to deny it. I saw you two yesterday."

"Max, look I can expl-," Chloe managed to say before she realized that the brunette was standing on her own feet, without the help of crutches, wobbling but nevertheless. She also saw that there was no trace whatsoever of the wound on Max's left thigh. "Your wound! It's gone!" Chloe said, taken aback. "Max, what have you done?"

"Newsflash! Got my powers back. Well sorta," Max said and smirked. "Found out I can rewind things, like single items. I healed my leg and I've been drinking the same bottle all over again." She emptied the bottle and made it full again. "Pretty cool, huh," she said and took another swig.

"So that hailstorm the other day wasn't a coincidence," Chloe said angrily. "Max do you realize what you've done? You're putting Arcadia Bay in jeopardy all over again!"

"So what if I am?" Max asked angrily "If destroying Arcadia Bay is what it takes to get rid of Julia and Jefferson once and for all, so be it!"

"That's the hooch talking, not you Max," Chloe said sternly. "The Max I know wouldn't put the people of this town in danger."

"Maybe I'm not the Max you knew anymore," the brunette slurred. "Besides, when I decided to save this stinking town, where it got us? You ended up dead and I ended up being miserable - and also dead, if I wouldn't have gone back again."

"Look, I want justice to be served to Julia as much as you do, but I don't want to lose you in the process," Chloe pleaded. "It took me a while but I realize now that the end doesn't always justify the means. If you really choose to take down Julia no matter what the cost, then I can't be a part of it."

"Then don't!" Max snapped. "In fact, why don't you just fuck off, or better yet, go fuck your new girlfriend!"

Chloe had tried her best to keep calm. She was a hothead by nature and though her recently acquired memories and experience had remarkably lengthened her temper, even then there was a limit and the brunette had just crossed that line with a quantum leap.

"Fine! Maybe I will do just that!" Chloe snapped back. She turned on heels and walked out of the room, slamming the door closed behind her. She could hear the bottle shard against the door. "That's the first sensible thing you've done today!" Chloe shouted through the door.

The classes had already begun for today, so not a single door opened in the corridor, when Chloe marched angrily towards the exit. She sniffed once and wiped the corners of her eyes dry as she stepped outside.

* * *

Detective Stacy Kowalski was at her computer, looking at Julia Bennett's file. Save for a fair amount of speeding and parking tickets, all of which had been duly paid, there was nothing out of the ordinary in Julia Bennett's records.

Stacy opened the on-line version of the La Vida Magazine. The issue consisted of different features of lifestyle and design. Pictures were very prominent on each article and most were taken by Julia Bennett, who was the lead photographer and co-founder of La Vida. Stacy wasn't an expert on photography but she knew a well composed picture, when she saw one.

Based on all the material Stacy had access to, Julia Bennett appeared to be close to a model citizen, but Stacy still couldn't help the feeling that something was off. There was one oddity in the records, though. None of the records seemed to predate the year 2007. She looked at the screen bewildered. Of course it could be a technical glitch but Stacy had a feeling that it was something else.

 _Could Julia Bennett be in the Federal Witness Protection Program?_ Kowalski thought. That would certainly explain the lack of earlier records but it also made her task more difficult. She'd have to go through miles of red tape to get a warrant to access the possible WITSEC record of Julia Bennett.

* * *

A few hundred miles down south, David Madsen was at his computer in his office. He'd just closed the record of Julia Bennett, as nothing was out of the ordinary in her file. He was curious, though why a photographer of Julia Bennett's stature would agree to do a short-term gig as a substitute teacher pretty much pro bono.

David opened Mark Jefferson's file. If you didn't count the atrocities he'd performed in the dark room beneath the abandoned Prescott barn, also Mark Jefferson's history was pretty much spotless. He was originally from Arcadia Bay but he'd graduated from Chicago. There was no associations to Julia Bennett, other than he'd lived in Seattle for some time in the early 2000's. There was a mention of Jefferson having had an assistant, a photography student called Joseph Adams, during his Seattle years, but no direct connection to Julia Bennett. There was no telling, whether Julia Bennett had actually lived in Seattle at that time, as there were no records of her prior 2007 for some reason.

David sighed in frustration. There was really not much to work on. He'd probably have to dig into more unofficial sources like Facebook and Instagram. The thought of delving into the social networks made him shiver. That would have to wait though, as he needed to go on his rounds.

* * *

Victoria stepped out of the classroom and into the hallway. She had noticed that Max had been absent from all the morning classes. Until recently, the brunette had always been diligent in her attendance.

Courtney and Taylor had asked Victoria to join them for lunch but she had declined as she had other things on her mind. She walked to the dormitory grounds and looked a quiet spot at the outskirts. She sat on the grass and concentrated on William.

A few moments later, the spirit appeared next to the blonde. "How can I help you today, Victoria?" William asked.

"I was actually hoping to be able to help you, William," Victoria answered and dug out her iPhone. "I got a picture of your daughter, Chloe."

"So you managed to get it," William said delightfully.

"Yes, and it turned out to be a lot easier than I thought," the blonde noted. She chose the right picture from the photo gallery and showed it to the spirit.

William looked at the picture for a moment but then shook his head. "I'm sorry but she doesn't ring any bells," he said apologetically.

"Are you sure?" Victoria asked a discouraged tone in her voice.

"Pretty sure," William confirmed. "She does appear to be a spirited young woman, though."

"She is," Victoria said and smiled. "Shame, I really thought that you might be able to remember, if I showed you Chloe's picture."

"Don't feel bad about it," the spirit consoled the blonde. "Without you, I wouldn't even know my own name. I'm sure that sooner or later I can remember who I am."

"I hope so," Victoria said. "But I have to go now. I have just enough time to have lunch, before the afternoon classes start."

"Enjoy your lunch, and thanks!" William said and vanished.

Victoria walked towards the dormitory entrance. She could just see Max limping out of the gateway that led to the main courtyard. She tried to wave at the brunette but she didn't notice her. Victoria ran after her but by the time she made it to the main courtyard, the brunette was nowhere to be found. _Boy, she's fast with those crutches._

* * *

Max limped quickly down the main courtyard, towards the bus stop. She'd seen Victoria waving at her from the corner of her eye but speaking to Victoria was the last thing she wanted to do right now. As soon as she had made it around the corner, she had taken a few running steps down the corridor after making sure no-one could see her. Luckily the bus arrived at the stop right then, so she simply stepped in and took a seat.

The brunette's head was still throbbing from the hang-over but the painkiller made it bearable. She was by no means sober enough to drive but luckily the Blackwell Academy Transit System came to the rescue. As the bus begun its slow journey towards downtown, Max began to think the fallout between Chloe and her.

As soon as punk had slammed the door shut behind her and Max had thrown the half empty Breezer bottle into it, she had burst into tears. She had wanted to run after Chloe, apologize, and beg her to return to her room, but her dented pride had kept her standing still. Of course the alcohol and her general mood didn't help. Nevertheless, it was inevitable that she would have to face the bluenette sooner or later. She owed to Chloe to hear her side of the story, assuming that Chloe would ever want to talk to her again. That would have to wait, though. Right now Max needed to get closure.

The bus drove slowly along the Arcadia Bay Avenue, passing the Two Whales Diner, where Max pressed the stop button and stepped out of the bus. She diligently put the crutches on her arms and began limping towards the Arcadia Bay Police Station.

Max knew that Mark Jefferson was still held in custody at the police station, waiting for the trial to take place. Nathan Prescott, on the other hand was already in Salem at the mental ward of Oregon State Penitentiary. Sean Prescott had used his influence and connections to get a fast processing for his son on the grounds of insanity plea. Nathan had also struck a deal with the district attorney. If he would testify against Jefferson, he'd be transferred to a regular mental institute within a year. This wasn't public information but rumors spread quickly.

Max stepped inside the police station. She recognized Officer Anderson Berry, whom she had first met on the week she'd spent with Chloe. He had also questioned her, when Chloe had been shot and finally again, when she herself had been shot. Officer Berry, of course was only aware of the last occurrence.

"Good afternoon, Officer Berry," Max said, when she came to his desk.

"Afternoon Ms. Caulfield, how may I help you?" the officer asked.

"Please, call me Max," the brunette said. "I have a bit unusual request. I need to talk to Mr. Jefferson."

"Well now, Max," officer Berry said haltingly. "Before the trial, the access to a suspect is restricted to the officials and the suspect's legal aides."

"I realize that," Max said sympathetically. "It's just that I was shot and when I came to, I found out that my photography teacher, who I looked up to, had been arrested." She put on her best puppy eyes. "I just need to get some kind of closure."

Anderson Berry looked at the small brunette ponderously for a moment before he sighed and stood up. "Ok, you get five minutes, but only because you're not a plaintiff or witness in his case," he said with an expression that he was already regretting his decision. "If someone catches you, I say you snug in by yourself and you might end up spending more time with Jefferson. You also have to leave your belongings here, save for the crutches."

"Good thing everyone else is out for lunch," Berry said, when he lead Max to the jail section. He unlocked the door that lead to the corridor, along which the jails were. "Five minutes!" he said sternly, when he closed the door behind her.

Max limped to the first recess that was separated from the corridor with sturdy bars. There, on a rudimentary bunk, the former professor of photography at Blackwell was sitting with his thoughts. The smart casual armor that he wore for work was no longer so groomed. He couldn't hide his surprise, when he saw his top student standing on the other side of the bars.

"Maxine!" Mark greeted his former student. "If you came to submit your entry to the Everyday Heroes contest, I'm afraid you're a little late."

Jefferson's sass went unnoticed by Max, who stared sternly the man who had taken everything from her. "I'm not here for that," she said grimly.

"What is it that brings you here, Max?" Jefferson asked. He stood up and walked to the bars separating him and the girl.

"Julia Bennett, or should I say Joseph Adams has come to Blackwell."

"Joe is here?" Mark said slightly bewildered. "And how can you know that Joe is Julia? It isn't exactly public knowledge."

"Let's just say that I paid a high price for that piece of information," Max answered. "I also know that Julia was your first, before her transition."

"What!" Mark blurted. "Did Julia tell you that? I know I should've destroyed those pictures, but she insisted on keeping them."

Max's eyes gleamed in the shadow. "Julia did in fact tell me." She sneered at her former teacher. "Or she would tell me in another time and another place."

"Another time…?" Mark was taken aback. "You're not making any sense, Max."

"It makes you feel helpless and vulnerable, when you don't know all the answers doesn't it," Max said, keeping her eyes on the man behind bars. "I know that feeling all too well. I wanted to know why a man that I admired and looked up to would so ruthlessly capture the innocence in people and forever leave them broken."

"What do you mean, Max? I never…"

"Oh please!" the brunette cut him off. "I know you laid your eyes on me since the day I arrived to Blackwell."

"I… Yes. Yes I did," Mark admitted. "I sensed something in you that none of the other girls had, a level of innocence and purity that I had never experienced before. All the classes were a bittersweet torture, when I saw you sitting there at the back. The desire of capturing that innocence was burning me from the inside." Jefferson took a better look at the brunette who stood steadfast in the corridor. The eyes that had earlier been full of innocence and curiosity now emanated hatred and coldness. "The innocence, I no longer see it in your eyes."

"It's gone. It was taken away by people I trusted and looked up to, people like you!" Max said icily. "By the way, aren't you wondering why Julia has come to Blackwell?"

Mark didn't say anything as he realized that the brunette's words were more a statement rather than a question.

"She plans to get vengeance on you by using poor Victoria as her instrument," Max continued. "Julia thinks Victoria is your grand price and not me, so she is targeting her. I don't know when and how she is going to do it, but she is going to kill Victoria and make sure that you'll get to know of it." Max paused for a moment to wait her words sink in. "Too bad Julia doesn't know that you couldn't care less about Victoria, so she will die for nothing."

Max took a few steps closer towards the recess. Her eyes narrowed, when she looked at the former teacher. "Your influence made Nathan Prescott kill Rachel Amber and your abandonment and betrayal made Julia Bennett lust for vengeance so badly that she would do anything just to get even with you. You've left behind a trail of broken souls. You must be proud of all the monsters you've created."

Mark Jefferson didn't say anything. Max could see something in his eyes that she had never seen before, penance – and fear. It was time for the final blow. "You'd better pray you never get out of prison. 'Cause if you do. - I. Will. Hunt. You. Down."

The last sentence made the former photography teacher instinctively to take a step back. Max sneered victoriously. She had faced her demon and won. Without a word she limped to the door and knocked on it. Officer Berry opened the door and let her out. She thanked the officer briefly and stepped out of the police station. Max was now completely focused on Julia. Evidence or no evidence, she would confront her tomorrow.

* * *

Chloe sat on the hood of her truck and baked away. She wiped a stray tear from her cheek for the umpteenth time today. Chloe had driven to the American Rust directly after her fallout with Max. She had dug out her remaining beer stash and started drinking and smoking.

Chloe leaned against the windshield and glanced at the darkening sky, where the last rays of the setting sun gave a golden hue to the dark blue.

A failure. That word described exactly how she felt about herself. She had failed as a daughter, she had failed in school, she had failed numerous relationships and now she had failed to keep the most important person in her life out of harm's way, twice. She just couldn't see how she could save Max from the dark path that she was on. A part of her wasn't sure if she even wanted to. She still felt hurt about the brunette's lashing out. _Dammit, Caulfield! I have my fucking pride too!_

The thought didn't make her feel any better, though.

Chloe took another drag from her joint. The weed didn't seem to have the desired effect. Instead Chloe just felt gloomier. She cast a look to the nearby corner of the junkyard, separated by a wall of rusty old cars and a derelict school bus. She could see the crime scene tape flapping in the autumn wind. A hole marked the place where the police had dug out Rachel Amber's body. Thanks to Max's sacrifice that isolated corner wouldn't be Rachel's final resting place.

It had felt so bizarre to stand next to Max at Rachel's funeral, after being dead for four years. Max had been wearing the same black dress that she had worn for Chloe's own funeral. The only difference was that for Rachel's funeral, Max had been sitting in a wheelchair. Still, Chloe had thought that the small brunette had been the most beautiful thing at the event.

Chloe looked at Rachel's find site again and remembered how heartbroken she had felt, when she and Max had found Rachel buried in there during their week together. Cold shivers ran through her spine, when she thought about their return to the site later that evening and how Mark Jefferson had shot her in cold blood. _Not much joy of dragging that fucking revolver with me,_ she thought, scorning.

This was the first time after her resurrection Chloe was here at nighttime. In her previous life, she'd spent numerous nights here, but the events that had gone down, she had not been able to come here for the night, until now.

Chloe stepped down from the hood and began to walk slowly towards the railroad track at the other side of the junkyard. She remembered how Max had barely saved her from the closing train. She also remembered the nightmare, where Max had just been waiting for the perfect shot while her lover was stuck on the track and the train was closing in. She took a final swig from the beer bottle and tossed it away before stepping on the track. Ahead of her opened a long straight stretch of rails, gleaming in the moonlight. Chloe stood still and looked into the distance. Sooner or later, a train would come.

This wasn't the first time Chloe had attempted suicide. The first time had occurred soon after her father had died and Max had left to Seattle. She had taken an overdose of her mother's sleeping pills. Joyce had found her daughter lifeless on the floor and called an ambulance. Chloe had been taken to the hospital and her stomach had been flushed. It had been a close call and resulted with hours of family counseling and therapy sessions.

The second attempt had occurred after Rachel had gone missing. This time Chloe had tried to slash her wrist. She'd been sitting in the bathtub and drawn a knife across her wrist. As soon as she had done it she had regretted it. Luckily, she hadn't properly cut through the artery, so the bleeding was moderate. Chloe had been able to stop the bleeding herself and cleaned up the mess. She had spent the following weeks away from home, crashing in odd places, so that she wouldn't have to explain the bandage on her wrist.

Chloe had not told to Max about either of these attempts. She didn't want to add to the brunette's burden any more than she already did. Not that it mattered anymore.

Chloe could hear the train blowing its horn in the distance. At the end of the stretch she could see the headlight of a freight train. She stood firmly between the rails, spread her arms and bathed in the beam of light as the train came closer. _I hope you'll find your peace, Max._

**To be continued...**


	8. Picking up the Pieces

**October 29, 2013, two days to Halloween**

Max stood in the hallway of Blackwell Academy main building. Students were mingling and roaming between classrooms. The photography class would be starting soon.

After returning from the police station, Max had sought Mrs. Grant and begged for permission to attend to Julia Bennett's lessons. The acting principal had reluctantly agreed on the condition that she would apologize to Ms. Bennett in front of the whole class and be on her best behavior.

Since Max had no evidence against Julia she would try to keep tags on her as best as she could until she would leave Arcadia Bay. With any luck, she might be able to find out what had happened to Janice. The thought of apologizing to Julia made Max shiver with disgust. Also the thought of facing Victoria didn't feel too pleasant. The blonde would certainly get her money's worth, when Max would crawl before the teacher.

Max began to limp towards the arts class. Pretending to have a leg injury was beginning to be an annoyance but Max figured that she'd have to wait at least until the end of the holiday break, before she could be publicly seen walking without the help of crutches. That was the least of her problems right now, though.

Max arrived to the classroom door and opened it. She stepped in to see that there was no-one inside. Max looked around in confusion. The class was supposed to start in a few minutes, so the room should've been half full by now.

Max looked in the hallway. None of the regular attendees was mingling there. She saw Warren standing outside the science class.

"Warren!" Max waved frantically at the young man.

"Super Max! Haven't seen you for a few days," Warren said and walked to the brunette. "'Sup?"

"Where are Kate, Victoria and the rest of the arts class members?"

"Kate said that Ms. Bennett would take them to a warehouse by the lumber mill," Warren said.

 _Warehouse!_ A tide of memories about the old barn, the dark room and Julia's hidden studio swarmed through Max's mind. _Julia is going to kill the whole class!_

"Listen!" Max grasped Warren's collar with one arm. "I need to get to that warehouse! Do you know the way there?"

"Yes, but..."

"I have no time to explain!" Max said. "Come with me! We'll take my truck!" Max began leaping as fast as she could with the crutches.

Warren looked bemusedly after the brunette for a passing moment but ran then after her.

* * *

"Max, have you any idea how unbelievable what you just said sounds?" Warren asked when they were rushing through the streets of Arcadia Bay.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I know for a fact that Julia Bennett used to be a man, and Mark Jefferson's assistant," Max said and turned onto a smaller road that lead to the warehouse.

Max no longer heard what Warren was saying to her. Her mind was filled with visions of all her classmates being tied and in agony. She could see how Julia took a careful aim at each student and pulled the trigger.

They arrived to the warehouse, where they found Julia's Tesla, Victoria's BMW and one other car parked on the front yard. Max parked next to the other cars. She took the pepper spray from her bag, grabbed one crutch and stepped out of the truck.

Max practically ran to the door, opened it and stepped inside with Warren a few steps back. There was a small corridor between the piles of crates, which lead to an open space. Max stepped in and gasped at the sight that opened before her.

All the students of the photography class were tied and scattered around the space. Some of them were slowly bleeding to death. Julia stood in the middle with her back against Max with a camera in her hands, concentrated on taking pictures. _Oh my god! I'm too late!_

"Bennett!" Max shouted furiously as she took the final steps towards the woman and extended the arm holding the pepper spray. As soon as Julia turned around, Max shot a mist of capsicum on the woman's face, making her scream in agony and lift her hands to cover her face. Max used her momentum to tackle Julia on the floor.

"Max, what are you doing?" the brunette heard Warren ask from behind.

"Oh my god, Max!" she heard Kate's voice from the other side.

"Caulfield, have you fucking lost it?" Victoria said furiously.

Max lifted her head and looked around. People were no longer tied or bleeding, instead they were standing around Max and Julia with cameras and other apparatuses in their hands.

"W-what? I thought you were..." Max stammered, looking around confused.

"We're doing a group assignment here!" Victoria said sternly. "Julia was kind enough to set up a makeshift studio for us to do the shootings. She's going to put the best shots into the next issue of La Vida – or at least she was going to, before you stormed in."

Max moved slowly from top of Julia, who was still covering her eyes with her hands, tears running down her cheeks.

"I-, I…" was all that Max could say, as she looked at the pepper spray can in her hand. Had she really finally lost it? She had been so sure about what she had seen. She looked at the other students who were looking at her, some horrified, some baffled. "What have I done?" she whispered to herself.

Warren came to her, helped her up and slowly walked her out of the building, leaving the other students to tend the victim of their classmate's assault.

* * *

"…and if Ms. Bennett out of sheer kindness had decided not to sue either you or the school, you would be expelled at this instant," Mrs. Grant said sternly to the small brunette sitting at the opposite side of her desk. Max felt so ashamed that she would've just wanted to disappear from the face of the earth.

"Assaulting a member of the staff, even a temporary one, is a serious offence, which will not be taken lightly. Therefore you will be suspended until the faculty board has evaluated your case," Mrs. Grant continued her rebuke. "Your previous record and your incident with Nathan Prescott will be taken into account, and you have a chance to state your case before the board. Do you understand this?"

"Yes, Mrs. Grant," Max said silently.

"I'd suggest you use your spare time to consider your actions and seek professional help. You can stay at the dormitory and you can partake the extracurricular activities like the Halloween party on the condition that you publicly apologize Ms. Bennett under my supervision at the party."

The brunette nodded in compliance.

"Maxine, I will speak on your behalf before the board but I can't promise an outcome that would be in your favor," Mrs. Grant said. "You can go."

Max stood up and limped out of the principal's office.

"That went well," the Victoria projected from Max's subconscious said, when the brunette stepped out of the main building.

"I'm not talking to you right now," Max said angrily.

"Hey, I'm not the one who was fooling around with…" Victoria started but quieted and disappeared, when max raised her index finger snarkily. Max picked up her phone to contact Chloe, but she apparently had closed her phone, as she wasn't online on the messaging app and the calls could not be connected. _I suppose that's that then,_ Max thought laconically.

Max limped towards her truck. Her life was in ruins. Not only had she lost her girlfriend and one of her friends had gone missing, but now she was also suspended from school with a high probability of getting permanently expelled. How could she explain this to her parents? Right now she just wanted to drown her sorrow thoroughly and that meant she had to make a trip outside the town limits.

* * *

David Madsen watched the small brunette go to her truck. He blamed himself for giving the pepper spray to Max, who apparently had kept the source of the can to herself; otherwise he would have been also in the principal's office, getting reprimanded.

While David was disappointed at Max, he wasn't too happy about Julia Bennett either. As the head of the security, he should have been aware of any curricular activities outside the campus premises. Apparently Julia had chosen not to disclose this fact to any members of the staff, which added to David's suspicions about the substitute teacher.

Based on what Joyce had told him about Max and his own impressions, his stepdaughter's friend was a good kid. Max was obviously troubled by something; otherwise she wouldn't be pulling a stunt like this. For some reason, the presence of the substitute photography teacher seemed to push Max over the edge. He would have to find out what it was, if for no other reason than to keep Max from getting expelled.

David made a decision to go to check out the warehouse after office hours.

* * *

Max placed a bottle of UV vodka on the counter. The shopkeeper was someone she had not seen before. He looked at the bottle of vodka and then the brunette.

"May I see some ID, please?" he asked.

Max put her ID on the counter. The shopkeeper picked it up, looked at it for a moment and then at Max.

"I can't sell you that bottle," he said.

"Why the hell not?" Max asked.

"This ID appears to be fake," the shopkeeper answered and held the card in front of the brunette. "Of course, if you want, we can call the authorities to verify the authenticity of this card."

"Just gimme that!" Max said angrily and snapped the card from the shopkeeper's fingers. She didn't even bother to pretend to be limping as she stepped out of the shop and into her truck.

"Well, this might be a good opportunity to consider other options to deal with the current situation," Victoria said, as she appeared on the passenger seat.

"Still not talking to you!" Max said angrily to her subconscious projection, as she passed the Arcadia Bay town line.

A few miles before town center Max saw something that she recognized immediately. Frank Bowers' RV was parked at the front yard of an old small farm. _It's a long shot but might as well try._ She hit the brakes and made the turn on a small road that lead to the farm.

Max parked her truck next to the RV and stepped out. She could hear Pompidou barking inside the house. She looked at the barn that had begun its slow transformation to an animal shelter

"This is private property!" Frank Bowers shouted from the door, holding Pompidou from the collar.

"We haven't met before but my name is Max Caulfield," the brunette introduced herself, knowing that their paths had not crossed in this timeline.

"You are Chloe's friend! The one that got shot by the Prescott kid," Frank said.

"That's me," Max confirmed.

"Look, I don't know what you've been told but I don't deal drugs anymore. I've bought this farm and I'm converting it to a shelter to abandoned dogs," Frank said, pointing at the barn.

"I'm not here for drugs," Max said. "I need booze."

"Booze?" Frank asked slightly bewildered.

"Yeah, booze, hooch, spirit, liquor, alcohol," Max said and limped to the porch. "Booze." She placed five twenty dollar bills on the table. "Get me a bottle of vodka and a mixer. You can keep the change."

Frank Bowers looked at the wad of bills on the table and then the brunette who had placed them there. He saw that this wasn't just a girl looking to get a little buzz for the evening. This girl was looking for a temporary relief to whatever pain that was gnawing her. He took the bills and placed them back on the brunette's palm.

"Tell you what," Frank looked Max straight in the eyes. "Since you indirectly helped to find out what happened to Rachel and since Pompidou seems to react kindly on you, I'm going to help you out, free of charge." He went inside and returned with two glasses and two bottles, a Mountain Dew and a clear flask with no label on it. He placed the bottles and glasses on the table at the porch and waved Max to sit down.

"I have this one bottle left from my last batch of moonshine," Frank said and poured some hooch on both glasses and then some Dew on the other. "You can have as many rounds you can stomach, if you sit down and tell me what's eating you."

Max stood still for a moment, alternating her glance between the tattooed man and the poured drink. "Alright," she finally said and sat down. She took a sip from the drink and could feel the alcohol burning her throat. "Do you believe in chaos theory…?"

* * *

David Madsen stood outside the warehouse by the lumber mill. He had come to check the place out as soon as his shift had ended. He walked to the door, which had a lock on it but it was also secured with a bar and a padlock. Both looked recently installed. He yanked the padlock a few times but gave up on it. It was a heavy-duty Abloy Protec2, which was next to impossible to pick with traditional lock picks and the shackle was made out of half inch thick boron steel, which would require tools that he currently didn't have with him. The lock made David curious. Why would Julia Bennett need such a high-end lock for a temporary storage facility? David was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice a Tesla roll silently at the front of the building, before its owner shut the car door behind him.

"Can I help you?" Julia Bennett asked.

"We haven't been properly introduced," David walked to the woman and extended his hand. "I'm David Madsen, head of security at Blackwell Academy."

"Oh yes, Mr. Madsen," Julia said and shook the man's hand. "Principal Grant mentioned you."

"I'm here because of the incident," David said.

"Yes, isn't it your job to prevent such incidents from happening?" Julia asked, still disgruntled and red-eyed about the pepper spray attack. "That Caulfield girl should be in a mental institute rather than school."

"I might have been able to prevent it, if I had been made aware of this excursion as per procedure," David argued back. The photographer's attitude began to irritate him.

"Well, I wasn't aware of such procedure," Julia said. "I am after all a substitute."

"That's a pretty sturdy padlock you have there," David decided to change the subject. "Makes you wonder what you have in there that the door lock won't suffice."

"Not that it is any of your business, but there's over $10 000 worth of photography equipment inside," Julia said. "I most certainly won't trust my equipment behind a rudimentary lock that any punk can pick. I'm sure a man in your position can appreciate that."

"Well, yes," David grunted. "Now that you're here, mind if I take a look inside?"

"Yes, I do mind, but if it'll get you off my back, then be my guest," Julia sighed and opened the padlock.

They stepped inside and Julia switched on the lights. David looked around the space between the crates. There was a huge temporary whitewall on one side of the room, surrounded by lamp posts and reflectors. On one side, there was a table that had several camera bags on top of it. On another table sat a high-end laptop computer. Apart from the piles of crates that seemed to have been here from quite some time, there was nothing else.

"Do you find everything satisfactory?" Julia asked.

"You know, this room reminds me of another one that I visited recently," David said.

"A studio is a studio, regardless what goes on inside one." The photographer walked to the camera table. "I can assure you that every student of my class will testify that nothing dubious was going on here today - except the assault by that Caulfield girl."

"I've seen enough," David said finally. "Thank you for your time."

"Glad to help, Mr. Madsen," Julia said.

"I'll help myself out." David left the photographer and walked to his truck. This visit had not set his mind at ease at all. Something was definitely not right with Julia Bennett. Whatever it was that Chloe and Max had on her, he would have to find it out.

* * *

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**Mom: Ok, honey. Try to stay warm. If I'm right you'll be spending the night at that junkyard again. Yes, I know about your little hiding place.**

**Mom: Chloe, David told me that Max had assaulted a teacher and got herself suspended. I can't get in contact with her and no one seems to know, where she is. Please call me, when you get this.**

Chloe stared at the last message from her mother. _Aww crap, Max! You had to go postal on Julia, didn't you?_ She was again leaning against the windshield of her truck and smoking. The sound of a passing freight train made her think about how she almost had ended it all.

Chloe had been standing arms wide open on the railroad track and watched how the incoming train was closing in, blowing its horns. She had felt that she had failed to protect Max and let her down. She had felt that she no longer had the strength to keep on pushing with failure after failure, so she had decided to throw it in.

Chloe wasn't afraid of dying. She had died so many times before so this one would be simply routine. Maybe this time she wouldn't end in that Windows XP desktop that had been her visualization of Purgatory the last time.

Just when Chloe had been about to close her eyes before the impact, she had spotted a doe walking towards the railroad track. "Shoo! Go away!" she had tried to shout at the doe and wave it off, but it had steadily kept coming towards the rails.

Chloe had had no choice than to step off the rails and run towards the doe, which had finally changed its direction away from the track. The train had gone by; blowing its horn angrily at the blue-haired punk that had watched the doe walk away.

As the last car of the train had gone by, Chloe had realized that if the doe had not come, she would be dead. She had fallen on her knees and thrown up.

Chloe took a long drag from her cigarette and threw the butt away. She knew why she had decided to throw herself in front of a train on a weak moment. Apparently, her impulsiveness could still take the best of her, even though she had become more prudent over the years. She looked again the messages from her mother. The first was a response to the one that she had sent after she had managed to pull herself together from her game of chicken with the train. She'd told Joyce that she wouldn't be coming home for the night and that she wouldn't need to worry about her.

Chloe couldn't quite figure out how Joyce knew about her home away from hell. She certainly had not talked about it to her. On the other hand, it really didn't matter anymore. Keeping warm for the night hadn't been too hard as it had been exceptionally warm throughout the night, probably over 70 as she hadn't even needed the blanket she had with her on the truck bed. That made Chloe concerned, as while temperatures over 70 weren't too uncommon in early October during daytime, they certainly weren't common during the nighttime in late October, especially on a clear night. Chloe had a nagging feeling that this was another one in the series of quirky phenomena that would lead to an apocalyptic disaster.

Chloe was about to answer her mother, when the phone started ringing. She looked at the caller ID and frowned, before answering.

"What do you want, Frank?"

"I have your friend, Max here over at my place," Frank Bowers said at the other end of the line. "I think it might be better, if you came to pick her up."

"What? Is she all right?"

"A little wasted but otherwise fine. You know that old farm by the main road southbound from Arcadia?"

"Yeah, I know that."

"That's where you'll find us."

"I'll be there in twenty." Chloe ended the call. She changed to messaging app and quickly tapped a response to her mother.

"God dammit, Max!" Chloe said out loud as she stepped down from the truck's hood and sat on the driver's seat. 'Crashing Down' by Barbe-Q-Barbies started playing on the car stereo, when she started the engine.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Chloe parked her Ford F-150 next to Max's Ranchero. She stepped out of the truck and walked sternly towards Frank who was walking down to meet her.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Frank!" Chloe said angrily. "Didn't you learn from the last time?"

"Relax, Price!" Frank said as he joined the punk on her way to the porch. "If I hadn't given her what she wanted, she'd just gone elsewhere and there's no telling where she'd ended up. I thought I'd keep an eye on her until I could get in touch with you."

Chloe stepped up on the porch and saw Max half-lying on the chair, holding a glass on her hand and barely conscious.

"Heyyyy, Che! Siddown and 'ave a drink!" the brunette slurred before she dropped the glass and passed out.

"How many has she had?" Chloe asked the older man.

"That's just it," Frank answered. "It's her first, and the glass didn't appear to get any emptier, when we talked. That girl has some really serious issues, you know."

"How so?" Chloe asked and looked at the spilled glass on the porch floor. _Very clever, Max._

"She kept rambling about chaos theory and tornadoes and how time travelling will destroy the Universe," Frank explained. "She really should seek some professional help. I don't think all the booze in the world will sort out those issues."

"You're right about that one," Chloe said, when she took the snoring brunette on her arms.

"What's happened to her?" Frank asked.

"Let's just say that the police report about the shooting isn't the whole truth," Chloe answered and turned to look at the man. "Thank you, Frank."

"No problem," Frank answered and walked Chloe to the trucks. "It was the least I could do after Rachel."

"Look, can I leave my truck here?" Chloe asked as she opened the passenger door of the Ranchero and placed the sleeping brunette on the seat. "I'll come and pick it up later."

"Sure, just text me a heads up, when you're coming."

"Thanks again," Chloe said, slipping on the driver's seat and starting the engine.

The drive home was quick and uneventful. Only Max's steady snoring broke the silence in the cabin. The brunette's head rested on Chloe's lap as she drove though the town center. Tomorrow wasn't going to be easy for neither of them but that couldn't be helped. They'd need to work out their issues.

Chloe parked the Ranchero onto the driveway of the Price/Madsen residence. Chloe walked on the other side of the truck and took the sleeping brunette on her lap. She walked to the door and rang the bell.

"Good heavens, Chloe!" Joyce Madsen said as she opened the door. "I've been so worried about both of you! Is Max all right?" She looked concernedly at the sleeping girl.

"She will be," Chloe assured her. "She just needs to sleep this off."

"This?"

"Max had a little too much to drink," Chloe explained as she walked to the stairs.

"Where'd she get alcohol from?"

"Does it really matter?" Chloe said, stopping midway. "The important thing is that she's safe." She took a few steps more before stopping again. "Listen, Max doesn't need to get any heat about this from either you or Dave. I have exclusive rights for that."

"If you say so," Joyce said.

Chloe carried the brunette into her room and set her on the bed. She took Max's shoes, jeans and hoodie off and put them on a chair, next to her bag, before tucking her in.

Chloe walked to the door but the mumbling from the bed stopped her.

"'M shhoo shhrry, Chlo. Ah rrrlly fucked up evvrrrtthh..." The slurry mumbling faded back into steady snoring.

Chloe walked back to the bed and gently stroked her girlfriend's hair. "Try to sleep, Maxaroni. Tomorrow'll be a new day."

* * *

Julia Bennett moved the last lamp post into place. Everything was now ready for the photo shoot. Only the subject was missing. She thought about today's events and the security officer's visit as she moved the crates around. That Caulfield girl could turn out to be a problem and that sorry excuse for a security guard was too curious for his own good. Luckily, everything was now ready and she'd be gone in a few days.

In a way, the Caulfield girl's assault had provided an unexpected opportunity, which Julia planned to exploit in full. She moved one last crate away to reveal a tied figure, who was staring at her horrified.

"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting, darling," Julia said to the tied figure. "Let's begin, shall we."

**To be continued...**


	9. Reconciliations and Revelations

**October 30, 2013, one day to Halloween**

Max was again in the dark room, sitting and watching how Chloe and Victoria made out.

"Hey, this is getting pretty old," Max remarked laconically.

"I guess you do realize by now, that Chloe wouldn't do that to you," an older Victoria said, standing beside the chair. "And frankly, Chloe isn't my type anyway."

"I suppose you're right," Max admitted.

"You know I am," Victoria said. "I'm just your subconscious that's speaking."

"Err, while you're there, could you untie me?" Max asked.

"I could," Victoria answered. "But you're not tied."

Max looked down at her wrists and they were indeed free. She lifted one of her legs to find out that her ankles weren't tied either.

Max stood up and took a few steps towards the couch, where the younger Victoria and Chloe were still making out, before turning to face the older Victoria. "Do you mind, if I..." Max pointed towards the blonde's younger counterpart.

"Not at all, be my guest," Victoria said, brushing her hand in the air and disappearing.

"Thanks!" Max said and took the remaining steps to the couch and put her hand on the younger Victoria's shoulder. "Victoria, get the fuck off from that couch!" Max said sternly and pulled the blonde on the floor, making her disappear.

Max sat down next to Chloe and faced the bluenette, who watched her grimly. The tension between the two young women was tangible.

"Chloe."

"Max."

"Am I losing you?" Max asked the punk.

"You tell me, Max," Chloe answered. "This dream is just a manifestation of your own insecurities and fears."

"My fears..."

"Yes, Max. What do you fear?"

"I... I fear that I will slowly succumb to my mental traumas and all that will be left of me is just an empty shell of what I used to be and not the girl you fell in love with."

"And that is why you are trying to push me away?"

"I wouldn't want you to wither and grow bitter while being with the wreck that I eventually will become."

"Don't you owe me the chance to have a say in this matter?"

I... I suppose so."

"Then I suggest you wake up and talk to me," Chloe said finally and faded away with the rest of the dark room.

* * *

Max opened her eyes slowly. It was dim but she could see that she was in Chloe's room. Only that it didn't look like the Chloe's room that she remembered. The posters and tags were still on the walls and she recognized the furniture but pretty much everything else was different. The floor was squeaky clean and the items and junk that was previously cluttered all over had been put where they belong or thrown away. Only a rug was covering the hardwood floor. On the desk, the laptop no longer had to fight for lebensraum with the ashtray and beer bottles. The smudge-free laptop now shared the desktop space with the mouse and a small cactus in a jar. The ragged American flag no longer gave its red, white and blue hue into the room. Now the room was dimmed by curtains that matched the punk's azure colored hair.

"Aw fuck, did I change the past, while I was drunk?" Max asked out loud and placed her palms on her forehead when she suddenly realized that her head was pounding.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Max heard a familiar voice to say from the armchair in the corner. "And to answer to your question, no you didn't. Welcome to the Casa de Chloe, Version 2.0!"

Max looked at the bluenette, who was smiling tiredly in the armchair. "The casa or Chloe?" she asked back.

"The jury's still out on that," Chloe chuckled.

"Aagh, my head!" Max covered her eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's half past seven in the morning. You slept fifteen hours straight."

"Fifteen..." The brunette gasped. "What was that stuff Frank gave me?"

"Oh that was Frank's triple-x special. It's at least twice as strong as regular vodka," Chloe remarked. "No-one's reportedly gone blind from it though. How many did you have, by the way? Frank told me you didn't take any refills."

"I… I don't really know. I guess I pretty much rewound the glass after every sip," Max said bashfully.

"Don't you realize the dangers?" Chloe stood up, looking upset. "And I'm not just talking about the alcohol."

Max rose to a sitting position still holding her forehead. "I know," she said quietly. "I really fucked up everything, didn't I?"

"To say the least," Chloe said, crossing her arms.

"I'm so, so sorry, Chloe," Max said. "About what I said and what I've done."

"'Sorry' doesn't cut it," Chloe said sternly. "I'm gonna put you through a hella guilt trip for what you've done."

The brunette looked down. "I guess I have it coming."

"You do," Chloe said. "But before we start, I want you to know something." She let out a smile. "No matter what I'm going to say to you or what you're going to say to me; in the end I love you, Maxine Caulfield and I will stand by your side, if you'll have me."

"I... of course I'll have you," Max said with a hint of relief in her voice. "I just wouldn't want you to be unhappy with me."

"Trust me, I can be many things with you but I doubt unhappy is one of them."

"S- so how's this gonna go?" Max asked timidly.

Chloe sat down again on the armchair. "First, we're gonna recap the last week; what has happened and what are the consequences, then you get to unload whatever shit that you're carrying on your chest and finally, we decide together what we're gonna do next."

"Uh, ok," Max said and took a more comfortable position on the bed, wrapping herself with the blanket.

"So I take that you first came across with your new power on that day we were in Portland?"

"Um, yes," the brunette admitted. "You were in the restroom. I was twirling an empty glass in my hands, while I was in my thoughts. All of a sudden the glass was full again." Max stopped and put her hands on her forehead again. "You know, this recapping would be easier with a Tylenol and a glass of water, or is this part of the guilt trip?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot completely," Chloe said and pointed the bedside table, where there was a pill and a bottle of water on it.

"Thanks!" Max swallowed the pill and took a long swag from the bottle. "So, I first thought my rewind had activated again but since everything else was unchanged, I realized that this was something new. I panicked of course; therefore I barged into the restroom."

"Yeah, I thought that excuse about lactose intolerance was made up," Chloe remarked, making the brunette blush.

Max continued her recap with further experiments of her new power, until she came to the point where she had healed her leg. "I was so sick and tired of the crutches that I decided to take a chance and rewind my leg."

"So your left leg is one month younger than the rest of your body?"

"Basically, yes," Max said and felt her thigh. "I thought about rewinding my whole body but I didn't want to risk losing my memories. - Although from one angle, the thought seemed tempting."

"Was it the day of that hailstorm?"

"It was. I guess it would be too optimistic to assume that it was just a coincidence?"

"I doubt it." Chloe closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

"In retrospective, the healing of the leg wasn't a very smart thing to do either," the brunette sighed and looked into the ceiling. "It was this close that Kate didn't find out that there is no scar in my leg. I'm going to have to keep that thigh covered practically all the time. And I still have to use the frickin' crutches in public for at least a month or two."

Chloe looked at the freckled young woman in her bed. "About that scar…" she thought out loud. "I may have a solution for that, but it'll have to wait for a better moment."

Max took another swig from the water bottle. The throbbing feeling in her head was slowly beginning to ease. "You know, with my powers I could probably bring Rachel back, maybe even William."

That remark redeemed a melancholic smile from the punk's face. "Yeah, I bet you could. And if you had suggested that a month ago, I'd probably been on board with it," Chloe said wistfully. "While I would love to get Rachel and Dad back, we have to accept that they're gone. The world has moved on and so do we."

"I wonder if the hailstorm was the only thing." Max contemplated.

"It wasn't," Chloe said.

Max looked at the punk bemused. "W- what do you mean?"

"You probably didn't notice it, if you were inside but the night before the last was exceptionally warm," Chloe explained. "It must've been at close to 80."

"Oh my god!" Max gasped. "It's happening again!"

"Have you had any visions?"

"No."

"Maybe it's possible that you haven't disturbed the timeline too much," the bluenette said thoughtfully.

"Maybe..."

Chloe stood up and walked to the door. "You feel you can stomach some waffles and eggs?"

Max felt her stomach. It was somewhat upset but a low growl at her waistline signaled that a consumed breakfast wouldn't just get a 'return to sender' stamp on it. "I guess. I just don't know if I'm able to face Joyce and David right now."

"I've told them to stay off your back but if you prefer to nosh upstairs, I can fetch us something."

"Would you?" Max asked.

"Anything for my baby," Chloe said and closed the door behind her.

Max curled up in the bed. She thought about her situation. Somehow, in one week her life had practically gone down the drain. After all she had done, Max had thought that Chloe wouldn't want to be with her. Yet, here she was in the punk girl's room, sitting in her bed. She could only be in awe of Chloe's devotion and tolerance to her, especially knowing how short-tempered the bluenette could be. _I'm so not worthy of you, Chloe, but I promise you that if we make it through this, I'll dedicate rest of my life to show you how much I love you and how much you mean to me._

Chloe returned with a tray full of waffles, eggs, bacon, two mugs of coffee and a glass of orange juice. Max felt so humbled that she could have just hide under the blanket.

"Chloe, I..." the brunette started but the bluenette hushed her gently.

"Later, Maximus. Let's eat."

Chloe split the food on two plates and passed one of them to Max and placed the coffee mug and the orange juice on the bedside table. The brunette devoured the contents of the plate in record time while the bluenette just nibbled on her dish.

"Thanks! I didn't realize how hungry I was," Max finally said as she set the empty plate on the bedside table.

Chloe didn't say anything, she just stared the brunette seriously, making her expression also gloomier.

"What is it, Chloe?" Max finally asked.

"I tried to kill myself the other evening," Chloe said chastely.

"You what?" Max gasped. "Why would you..." she began but stopped, when she realized she already knew why. "Chloe, I didn't realize… I…"

"Max, it's not your fault, at least not entirely," Chloe said and looked into distance. "I mean you clearly stepped over the line with your F-bombs but it just contributed into my own feeling of failure."

"How did you..." Max was not able to finish the sentence.

"I went head to head with a train at the American Rust." Chloe closed her eyes. "I was so ready to do it."

The brunette covered her mouth with her hand in shock. "What made you step off the track?" she finally asked.

"A doe was going to step in front of the train. I had to chase it off."

 _A doe…_ Max thought. She remembered how she had crossed paths with the doe several times on that week. It had been the one and same doe, she was sure of it. There was something mystical about the doe; like she, and apparently Chloe were somehow connected to it.

"When the train passed me by, I realized that without that doe, I would be dead," Chloe shivered when she thought about it. "My impulsive side got the best of me. Sure, I was hurt and desperate, but I shouldn't have given in to my emotions."

Max's stomach was twisting but not from hangover. "Chloe, I'm so, so sorry." Tears were running down from the brunette's cheeks. "I was being a complete ass to you."

"Yes you were, Max." Also Chloe's eyes were running. "Wherever did you get the idea that Victoria and I might have something going on?"

"I saw you two at the Hip Bean accidentally and you were posing to Victoria in such a way that... I don't know what I was thinking." Max looked down to her feet. "I guess I feared that I had already driven you away because we've had it rough in the past few days. Seeing you with Vic kinda pushed me over the edge. Then, when you came, you really saw me at my worst." The brunette let out a deep sigh. "Oh god, I'm such an idiot!"

"Can't really argue with that," Chloe said. "If you hadn't been so busy throwing those F-bombs at me, I would've told that Victoria and I were discussing about you. She's worried about you too, you know. She's afraid that you'll end up like Nathan, which you almost did. - Which reminds me, where did you get that pepper spray?"

Max tried to peer at any possible direction than the bluenette, whose stare she felt burning through her. "From David."

"David?!" Chloe blurted. "What the hell was he thinking? I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"

"Please, Chloe, it's not his fault," Max pleaded. "I told him I needed it for protection.

"Still, he's the fucking head of security. He should know better."

"Please, give David some slack," the brunette said. "If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me!"

"Oh I am, Max!" Chloe retorted. "I thought by now you'd have a little more faith in me!"

Max didn't say anything. She just clung to the punk's promise to love her no matter what was said.

"This wasn't the first time I've tried to kill myself, you know. I've tried it twice before," Chloe said. "I don't want to go into details, at least not now. I just don't want to keep any secrets from you, not anymore."

The brunette cast a glance at her soulmate. She could easily hazard a guess, what the two previous occasions had been. She made a solemn swear to herself that Chloe would never have to mull such thoughts on her account.

"It breaks my heart that I drove you in such a desperate decision," Max said. "I hope that someday I will be able to make it up to you."

Chloe let out a faint smile. "I'm sure in time you will." She leaned forward on her chair. "Enough about my suicidal tendencies. Let's talk about your need to self-medicate."

Max could feel her cheeks turning to scarlet. She had been wondering when the issue of her drinking would come up. In the alternate timeline, Victoria had brought it up on a couple of occasions but Max had assured her that she had it under control. At least she liked to believe so.

"Look, Max, with my own past of substance abuse I can totally relate to what you're going through," Chloe said to the brunette. "Having followed you in this and the other timeline, I still think you hardly qualify as an alcoholic. However, if you don't address the reasons that make you drink, you may as well end up being one."

"I- I know," came the answer somewhere behind the blanket.

"So, why do you drink, Max?" Chloe asked. "I can hazard a guess but I want to hear it in your own words."

The brunette rose from the bed for the first time and stood up. It felt still strange for her to be standing on her own feet. She looked the bluenette straight in the eye. "In the beginning, in Seattle, it was for the grief. I just couldn't get over from losing you." She smiled shortly. "Little did I know that you were there with me the whole time."

Now it was Chloe's turn to blush. "I should've come forward to you way sooner."

"Yes, maybe, but I doubt we would be together now if you had." Max walked to the window and looked out. "When we returned, all the horrible things I had endured began to haunt me. When Jefferson and Julia held me captive, a part of me died on those occasions. Add that to all the times I saw you die or when the storm ravaged Arcadia Bay, or simply all the times I used my powers." She turned to look back at the punk. "My mind was simply beginning to crumble. It's got PTSD written all over it, but in this reality, I haven't experienced any of it. I'm just a victim of a shooting, technically a stray bullet. That really doesn't warrant any therapy, and even if it did, I couldn't tell what I was _really_ going through."

"Why wouldn't you talk to me about it?" Chloe asked.

"I wanted to but you were having your own issues being back alive and trying to process through all the extra memories you gained." The brunette cast a quick glance around her. "When I look at your room, something tells me that it's not just the memories you're dealing with."

The bluenette was quiet for a moment, trying to contemplate how to respond to her lover's remark. "You're right, it's not." She stood up also and joined the brunette by the window. "All the stuff I did on that week was really not an issue, since it was me doing it. The memories from the paralyzed Chloe were a completely different thing, though.

"When I was dead, I was somehow able to compartmentalize everything, but after my return, the memories and psyche of the other Chloe, began to merge and take over my own. The first thing was the application to Arcadia Bay High. The other Chloe valued education above everything else. While I would've been fine with taking my time to look at my options, she was hell bent that I'd get my GED at the same time with you and apply to a university."

Chloe took a momentary breather and Max used that moment to wrap her arm around her partner's waist, which was rewarded with the punk easing up a bit. The brunette indulged herself into the familiar and soothing scent of the taller girl.

"She also made me quit smoking and tidy up my room, both of which I tried to rebel against," Chloe said and nodded towards the nicotine patch on her arm. "I also use the word 'hella' less often than I used to. For some reason she loathes the word. As a result, 'hella' just doesn't come as naturally."

"You mean you're turning into that other Chloe?" Max asked slightly shocked, realizing that it was her photo jump that had created the alternate Chloe in the first place.

"Hella no!" the punk chuckled. "It's more of a matter of coming to an agreement with myself, how I want to grow as a person. All these changes are something that I at some subconscious level have wanted. She's just acting as a facilitator."

Chloe took the smaller girl's hand and lead her back to the bed. They both sat on the bed, facing each other.

"Your gift of diverting the discussion away from you is just adorable, Mad Max," Chloe said to the freckled brunette. "What made you go postal on Julia?"

Max cringed at the nickname. "Please, call me anything else but that."

"Uh, sorry."

"It's ok," the brunette smiled. "That nickname's just beginning to have a wrong kind of association." She let out a deep sigh. "When I said that my experiences were taking a toll on my psyche, it came with symptoms. The constant nightmares were one thing, but the delusions were something else.

"It started with Victoria, who was my roomie in Seattle, appearing to me and acting as my conscience. I knew she was just a projection of my subconscious based on the memories I have of her, but to make her go away I actually had to interact with her."

"As if it wasn't unpleasant enough to deal with _one_ Victoria," Chloe snorted.

"Hey, I resent that!" Victoria flashed briefly in Max's field of vision.

"Actually this Vic is quite mellow compared to the other one," the brunette defended her imaginary friend.

"Yeah, I guess she was all right," Chloe admitted, reminiscing her time as a spirit in the alternative timeline.

"Vic always tried to be the voice of reason on... on my bad moments but I just kept pushing her away, until... until..." Max stopped and hung her head.

"Babe, if you wanna take a breather..." the punk offered but Max raised her hand.

"No, it's all right. I need to do this," Max assured her. "Yesterday, I was going to suck it up and apologize Julia so that I could attend the class and keep tags on her. When I went to the class, I found it empty and when Warren told me that Julia had taken all of them to the warehouse, I simply lost it.

"When we got to the warehouse, I was so deep in the thought that Julia was going to kill all of them that I saw what my mind wanted me to see: Julia torturing my classmates. I acted on instinct. Only after I had taken Julia down and my 'dying' classmates called my name, I came to my senses and saw what was really going on. The rest you know." Max looked up bashfully.

Chloe looked at her lover in shock. "Oh my god, Max! Had I realized you were in such a fucked up state, I would've done something. You should've told me!"

"I know and I'm so sorry I didn't come to you before it was too late." Tears flowed down on the brunette's cheeks. "Now everything is in ruins and I've become just another one of Jefferson's monsters!"

"Come on, Maxaroni. You're not a monster," Chloe tried to assure Max but she just shook her head.

"Yes I am, Chloe," Max said. "I realized it from what Jefferson said to me, when I went to see him."

"You went to see Jefferson?" Chloe's eyes blinked wide open from amazement. "Why'd you go to see him for?"

"I needed to face him one more time, to look that bastard in the eye and show him I wasn't afraid of him anymore. – I wanted put the fear in him, and I did." Max could see how the bluenette was taken aback from her last words and the shadow that fell on her face. "He told me that he could no longer see the innocence in my eyes. And he's right. I'm a tarnished soul like Nathan and Julia."

The bluenette put her hands on the freckled cheeks and wiped the tears away with her thumbs. "Now you listen, Maxine Siobhán Caulfield!" Chloe said sternly. "You are nothing of a kind! You are the kindest and the most emphatic soul I've ever known. And you are strong, stronger than I ever can be. You've shown it to me time and time again. You will survive this and come out as a better person. If you could turn my miserable life around, you most certainly can do it to yours."

"I don't know. Life... just seems so abysmal right now."

"I'm not saying it's gonna be easy but I'll be with you every step of the way, and beyond," Chloe said, still holding the brunette's face in her hands.

"You... will?"

"Like I said I would. - Always." The punk pulled Max closer and pressed her lips gently against her own.

Max hesitated for a moment as she felt the velvety smoothness of the bluenette's lips on her own. She inhaled the familiar mixture of nicotine and male fragrance and a sensation of warmth rushed through her body. Max opened her lips slightly and pushed her tongue forward against Chloe's lips, to which she responded by opening her own. The two exploring tongues met midway and even warmer sensation filled the brunette.

Max put her arms around Chloe's waist and pulled her body closer, not letting go of the lips. She felt the punk's arms slide slowly from her cheeks down on her shoulders and behind her back. Their tongues continued the exploring, resulting in random muffled moans from both of them.

Chloe pulled slowly away from Max, leaving the brunette whimpering. She gently brushed Max's lips and hushed reassuringly, before standing up and walking to the door. Chloe latched the door quietly and walked a few steps towards the bed, before stopping. She slowly pulled her tank top over her head and stepped out of her sweatpants, leaving just her underwear on.

Max never grew tired of watching the slender but slightly muscular body of her lover. She bit her lover lip in anticipation as Chloe took the final steps on the bed and guided the brunette on her back and kneeled on top of her. Max lifted her head upwards, when the bluenette leaned over to kiss her again. They kept devouring each other's mouths as Chloe slowly slid her hands down towards the hem of the brunette's t-shirt. The punk girl slid her fingertips under the hem and slowly pulled her lips away, still sucking her partner's lover lip until only a stretching strand of saliva connected them.

Max arched her back with the support of her elbows and let Chloe push her shirt upwards. She arched her back some more and lifted her arms so that the punk could pull the shirt off, exposing her bare chest. A cool breeze blew across her nipples, making them perk, which was rewarded with a mischievous grin from her lover. Chloe eased Max on her back again and leaned over to twirl her tongue over one of the nipples while twirling her index finger over the other. The brunette bit her lower lip and moaned in pleasure.

Max reached forward and pulled the sports bra over Chloe's head, breaking the connection between her nipples and the tongue and finger working on them for a brief moment. Chloe switched her lips over the other nipple while Max bent her arms so that she was able to cup the punk girl's breasts. She rubbed her thumbs over the erect nipples, making the bluenette moan in turn, as she sucked on the tender bud.

Max felt her nethers getting wet and the heat building up. As if Chloe had read her thoughts, she withdrew her mouth from the brunette's nipple and worked her way downwards, placing kisses on the arched abdomen and sliding her hands along the ribs until they reached the hemline of Max's undies. Not stopping there, the punk continued sliding her hands along her lover's hips, pulling the undies with them and revealing the trimmed pubic mound, making the brunette shiver at the cool breeze over her exposed sex. Chloe placed another kiss on the throbbing mound and guided her tongue through the slit onto the button, making Max vince as she bit her lover lip and grasped the bed sheets. Chloe moved her tongue slowly downwards into the moist crevice, getting the full taste of her partner's womanhood. She pursed her lips and moved backwards to catch a glimpse of the freckled face.

"Chloe, p-please...!" the brunette gasped in ecstacy.

The punk responded by sliding two of her fingers into the hot, moist crevice and began stroking slowly, while rubbing her thumb on the clit. Max lifted her bottom and began making a slightly circular motion in rhythm of the stroking. Her moaning went down a few octaves into a growl, before starting to rise again and turn into short, high-pitched ones as the rhythm of the strokes accelerated. Max felt the pressure building up inside her until she no longer could hold it. A spasm after another went through her body as she came. Accompanied by a pleasure induced groan, she fell limp on the bed.

The brunette lied breathless for a moment, before opening her eyes to see her lover's face above her own, smiling. She returned the smile and wrapped her arms around the punk girl's neck, pulling herself towards the smiling lips. Max pulled Chloe into another breath-taking kiss, before rolling the bluenette on her back and placing herself above the toned body. She leaned down and took a firm grasp of the hemline of the boxers that Chloe was still wearing with her teeth and pulled downwards. The revealed small bush of green pubic hair crowning her partner's sex made Max grin inwards when she remembered Chloe's account about trying to dye her bush using her blue hair dye with a result that now lay before her eyes. No other color could've felt more right, though, as she proceeded to place a kiss on the swollen mound. The resulting groan from the other end signaled the brunette that the punk was amenable for the return of the favor, which Max intended to do, with interest.

* * *

"Not that I'm complaining about eating out with you, but I really have some stuff I need to do in the den, before my shift starts," David Madsen said to his wife.

They were sitting in a booth of a Mexican restaurant in Lincoln City, studying the menu. They'd spent most of the morning at a Home Depot, selecting the paint for the house. In the morning, Joyce Madsen had declared that she was not going to watch the half-painted walls of the house any longer and dragged her husband into the family truck right after breakfast. There was of course some truth to it but the actual reason was that she had wanted Chloe and Max to have the house all for themselves so that they could sort out their issues in privacy. She also didn't want either herself or David inadvertedly became aware of any other activities related to the discourse.

"I'm sure you have, honey," Joyce said and smiled behind the menu. "I'm also pretty sure you said on the day you moved in that you'd paint the house first thing. How long is that now, five years?"

David didn't say anything. He remembered his promise all too well. When he had moved in to live with Joyce and Chloe, he'd had full intention to re-paint the house but something had always come up and after months, the plans had simply sank into oblivion. _Now, why of all the days did she have to pick this one to take up on my word?_ David had planned to use the free morning to dig into Julia Bennett but that was now out of the question. He'd have the night shift today, so he couldn't look into it until tomorrow.

* * *

"Wowser!"

"Hella!"

Max and Chloe were lying naked under the blanket, curled against each other and looking into each other's eyes. They had made love several times, having only short pauses in between, until one of them had felt playful again. The last few hours had been filled with lust, passion and pleasure, but most of all, healing. The intimacy, the tenderness and pure, unconditional love seemed to make all the fear and desperation just a little more bearable. The feeling of insecurity and insufficiency seemed to relent a bit, when faced with affection and trust. They both had a long journey ahead of them but now that they had found each other again, they just might make it to the end.

"What's going to happen now?" Max finally broke the moment of intimacy.

"I dunno," Chloe said, looking thoughtful. "I guess our two priorities are to keep Victoria alive and to prevent you from getting kicked out of Blackhell."

"I don't see how we're going to keep me from getting expelled," Max sighed. "The damage has pretty much been done." She scowled and covered her eyes with her arm. "What am I going to tell my parents, when they hear about this?"

"Maybe it won't come to that," Chloe tried to reassure the brunette, not really believing it either. "In the meantime, though, we should try to dig as much dirt as possible about Julia."

"We probably should check out the warehouse," the brunette said. "I think I saw her laptop there, when I made my grand entrance. Somehow I don't think she'd take it with her to the hotel."

"Yeah, I think that's our best bet," the punk agreed.

"And I know for a fact that Julia's going to be at the Halloween party, because I have to apologize the bitch there if I wish to attend." Max grimaced at the thought, as she moved into a sitting position.

"Don't worry, babe, I'll be with you all the way." Chloe reached up and put her hand on her partner's shoulder.

"Thanks!" Max turned to face the bluenette. "I love you, Chloe."

"I love you too, Max."

"You know, I'd love to spend the whole day in bed with you, but I guess I need to head back to the campus," Max said.

"Noo! Me no wanna you go!" Chloe babbled and grabbed the brunette's arm.

"Me no wanna go either, you dork," Max chuckled and kissed the punk's hand. "I've got some stuff to do before tomorrow, though."

The brunette stood up, and shivered slightly as the cool air of the room got into contact with her body, still moist from the sweat. "Imma hit the shower, wanna join?"

"Hella yeah!"

* * *

Victoria was staring at a blank document page on her laptop screen. Fourteen times she had written the first words of the first paragraph and as many times she had backspaced into the beginning. She was supposed to write an essay about Dorothea Lange's influence on themes in photography, but her mind was drifting somewhere else.

"Damn you, Caulfield!" Victoria huffed out loud and slammed the laptop lid shut. She was still upset about yesterday's incident; to Max of course but more so to herself. This was the second time she had seen that someone she knew had been troubled and had not acted upon it in time. Luckily, Max had only brought a pepper spray with her. The look on the brunette's face, when she had assaulted Julia Bennett had been daunting.

Still, as much Victoria wanted to be mad to the brunette about ruining her chance to get her picture published in 'La Vida', the uppermost feeling about Max was concern. She had not seen her after the incident and she had not heard her to return to her room either. Had she gone missing like Janice?

"Victoria?" a voice said behind the blonde's back, startling her. Victoria turned around to see Janice Smith standing in the middle of the room.

"Janice?" Victoria blurted. "You scared the shit out of me!" she said sternly and stood up. "Where have you been? I've been worried sick and the police are looking all over for you!" Victoria took a few steps to embrace the other girl but to her surprise she walked right through her. She turned around to see Janice facing her frantically.

"What's happened to me, Victoria?" she asked.

For a moment, Victoria couldn't get a word out of her mouth, as she was trying to grasp what her senses were telling her.

"You…" A single tear ran down the blonde's cheek as she stared at her friend. "You are dead, Janice."

* * *

**Mom: Max, we got note from the school that you had assaulted a substitute teacher. What has happened? Is everything all right? Should we come over? Please call us! Dad says hi. Love you!**

Max was sitting in her truck at the Blackwell parking lot and staring at the message on her phone. The news had reached Seattle. She could imagine that the call would not be a pleasant one. The last thing she needed right now was that her parents would come over. After a moment of thought she began tapping.

**Max: Mom, Dad, I made a terrible mistake and I'm sorry if I've caused you any grief. I am a grown woman now, though, so I need to take responsibility of my actions. Please don't come down here. I will call you after Halloween. Love you both!**

Max stepped out of the truck and took the crutches. When she was heading towards the dormitory, she thought about the conversation she'd had with Chloe, when she had dropped her at Frank's to get her truck.

"You mean I practically spilled my beans to Frank?" Max had asked terrified, when Chloe had told about coming to pick her up from Frank's place.

"Yep, pretty much the whole shebang," the punk had remarked.

"Oh crap! What did Frank say?"

"Oh, you know," Chloe had grinned, "that you're a bit gaga. Don't worry about it. He, if anyone knows about confidentiality. Comes with the business, you know."

Max limped along the dormitory hallway, towards the end, where her room was. She stopped between the two opposite doors, one lead to her room and the other to Victoria's. Whatever Julia's endgame might be, Victoria had worked hard to get her here and Max had then single-handedly ruined a photo session that was at least as important as the Everyday Heroes contest. At least she would deserve an apology.

The brunette braced herself for whatever heat that Victoria would put on her, as she approached the door and knocked.

"W-who is it?" an uncommonly fragile voice asked.

"Uhm, it's me, Max."

Max had expected a lot of things to happen, when she would say her name, but never that Victoria would pull the door wide open and take the brunette into a tight embrace.

"Max, you're ok!" the blonde exclaimed.

"Uh yeah," Max said, bemused at the unexpected endearment. "Look, Victoria, I'm so sorry about..." she started but stopped, when she saw the teary eyes of the young woman that was still grasping on her. "What has happened, Victoria?"

The blonde pulled the brunette inside with her and closed the door behind them.

"It's me, who owes an apology to you, Max," Victoria said with a weary voice. "You were right about Julia all along." They both sat down on her bed. "Julia has killed Janice."

Even though Max had feared that this might be the case, when she had heard about her friend's disappearance, she couldn't be less shocked about the news. "Oh my goodness!" she said and placed her arm around the sobbing blonde's shoulders. "Where did you hear about this?"

Victoria hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with a way to tell the brunette about her ability. Before she could say anything, she was dumbstruck with what Max said next.

"Janice told you, didn't she?"

"I... Yes... How do you..." Victoria stammered in complete shock.

"How do I know that you can see dead people?" Max looked the blonde straight in the eye. "Because, in another time and place, we were roommates and best friends for over three years, and you told me yourself."

**To be continued...**


	10. Hellaween

**October 31, 2013, Halloween**

Max put the pilot Ray Bans that she had bought from Portland on her nose, finishing her Halloween costume. She looked at her image in the mirror and smiled approvingly at the end result. Chloe would be arriving soon to pick her up for the Halloween party.

Max looked at the crutches leaning against the wall. They certainly wouldn't complement her costume but that couldn't be helped. She decided to compromise by taking only one of them. Max walked to the door and peeked out. People were pacing between the restroom and dorm rooms as they prepared for the party. She saw that Victoria's door on the opposite side was open but the blonde wasn't in her room at the moment.

Max recalled the conversation between Victoria and her yesterday. She had gone to apologize to the blonde, only to find her in shock about the death of their common friend. Max hadn't been exactly soothing when she had revealed that she was aware of Victoria's ability to communicate with dead people. The next thing, however, had been the real shocker.

"You're telling me that in some other timeline we've shared an apartment in Seattle and that we've been best friends for over three years?" Victoria had asked in disbelief.

"Well, technically we would be in the upcoming years, if things had gone differently a few weeks back." Max had specified. "I know this sounds incredible..."

"Incredible?" Victoria had blurted. "That's very mildly put!"

"Any more than your discourse with dead people?"

"Well, I..."

"Maybe it's better that I start from the beginning..."

So Max had told Victoria how she had discovered her powers. How she had sacrificed Chloe to save Arcadia Bay by undoing the five days. How she and Victoria had bonded and moved to Seattle. How Victoria had rediscovered her powers and found out that Chloe was with them. How they had found out about Julia Bennett being a copycat of Mark Jefferson, and how Max had undone all the four years to save herself. She had concluded her recap with the discovery of her new power and how she had used it to heal her wounded leg.

Victoria had sat in amazement, trying to process all what she had learned. "So this is why you were so hell bent over Julia right from the beginning, and why you've been calling me 'Vic' all the time," she had remarked.

Victoria had briefly told Max about her encounters with the dead spirits. It had then been the brunette's turn to be surprised, when the blonde told that one of them was Chloe's dead father.

"William is still here? It's been five years since his death!"

"He can't remember who he is. I think that's what's holding him back."

"Have you told him?"

"Yes, and I also took a photo of Chloe but he didn't recognize her from the picture."

Max had felt her ears burning, when the blonde had told the reason for her taking the photo of Chloe at the Hip Bean. She had not said anything, though, but instead dug a passport photo out of her wallet. "It makes sense that William didn't recognize Chloe from the picture, because last time he saw her, she looked like this."

"That's quite a difference," Victoria had commented on the young girl with strawberry blonde hair in the picture.

"Have you told Chloe?"

"What do you think?"

"Yeah, I guess not. What about Janice, then? What did she tell you?"

"Not much. All that she could remember was that Julia had kidnapped her and held her captive. The poor thing didn't even realize that she was dead before I told her." The blonde had burst into tears again upon saying that.

Max had felt sympathy for Victoria. In its own way, Victoria's gift was a burden to her the same way as Max's gift was for her.

After Victoria had pulled herself together, they had discussed the Halloween party and Max had shared her concern that Victoria might be Julia's target. Max had also shared her and Chloe's plan to find evidence against Julia and hopefully Janice's body too. The blonde had offered to help in any way she could.

When the time had come for Max to excuse herself, Victoria grabbed her arm when she stood up.

"Tell me, Max. What kind of person was I in that alternative timeline?"

"Well, you know, pretentious, self-absorbed, sassy, arrogant and boasting. But also loyal, sweet, caring, altruistic and protective. Someone I was proud to call a friend."

Max shook herself away from her thoughts as she closed her door. She was going to pick up her phone to text Chloe, when someone knocked on the door. She opened it and the sight in the doorway scared the living daylights out of her. It was Chloe, looking like she had just walked out of the filming of 'Thriller'. Her usually lightly tanned skin was now dirty light grey with dark highlights to give her a mummified appearance. Max recognized the punk girl's suit to be the one that she had helped Joyce to put on Chloe's body for her funeral. Now, though, it was frayed and covered by dust and fake cobwebs. Chloe's azure hair was a few shades paler and also covered by fake cobwebs.

"Jesus, Chloe! I almost peed in my pants! A heads up call would've been nice!" Max retorted.

"And miss the look on your face? Over my dead body!" Chloe snickered.

"Dead indeed," Max managed a grin. "John Landis called. He wants his props back. Awesome job with the makeup!"

"Thanks, Maximus, or should I say Maxine McFly?" The punk looked approvingly at the brunette's costume.

Max was indeed a spitting image of Marty McFly. Her usual shoulder length bob had been combed back and held tightly against her temples. The pilot Ray Bans complemented the 80's hairstyle. Max was wearing a creamy white shirt that had a light brown print pattern on it. On top of that she had a denim jacket and red quilted vest. Levi's 501 jeans with suspenders and white Nike sneakers completed the costume.

"So, does the Ranchero now come with a flux capacitor?" Chloe asked.

"Flux capacitor? With me around, we don't need flux capacitors," Max declared with a grin.

"I'm looking forward to hitting 88 miles per hour with you later tonight," Chloe remarked seductively.

"You nerd!"

"It's the company I keep," Chloe chuckled. "If I'd known that you're planning to dress up as Marty, I'd probably dressed up as Doc Brown."

"The Ray Bans weren't enough of a hint?" Max asked.

"I thought you were going to dress up as Maverick from Top Gun."

"Ewww! Now I can't get that image out of my head," Max cringed.

"So what's the plan for the evening?" Chloe asked.

"We're going to make an appearance at the Halloween party, then we're gonna go to that warehouse and search it with a fine-tooth comb," the brunette explained. "I had a long talk with Victoria last night. Janice had appeared to her yesterday. Vic's now on the level what Julia's all about and totally on board with our intentions to reveal her. I'll ask her to keep tags on Julia, while we search the warehouse."

"The Blackwell ninjas ride again!" Chloe exclaimed vigorously.

"Hey, let's take a photo to capture this moment," Max said, reaching for her camera.

"That reminds me, you'd forgotten about your birthday present." The brunette dug out her father's old Polaroid camera out of the plastic bag she had with her.

"Are you sure, Chloe?" the brunette asked. "I mean, my own camera isn't busted now..."

"Hey, I gave it to you as a birthday present. A different timeline doesn't change that. It's yours." Chloe passed the camera to her partner.

"Well, in that case, thank you - again," Max said and placed a kiss on the punk girl's lips. "C'mere, photo-hog, let's do this." The brunette set herself beside the taller girl and pointed the camera towards them. "Say 'Hellaween'!"

Max pressed the button and a few seconds later, the camera spat out a picture accompanied by a whirr. She took the photo out and flicked it a few times out of habit, before looking. "Oh yeah, this is a keeper!"

"Let me take a look," Chloe said. "Back to the Future meets The Walking Dead," she remarked.

"Should we head down to the pool?" Max asked. "I'm supposed to meet Mrs. Grant and Julia in front of the swimming hall."

"The idea that you have to crawl in front of that bitch just makes my blood boil," the punk said angrily.

"I'm not too happy about it either but maybe we can play it in our favor," the brunette said, as she opened the door to the corridor.

"You have something in mind?" Chloe asked as they headed towards the stairwell.

"Oh maybe a little something to rock her boat," Max answered with a slightly mischievous grin. She looked around to make sure that no-one was looking, before she walked down the stairs normally, holding the crutch in her hand.

Once they reached the main door, Max used the crutch for support again and limped outside, while Chloe held the door open. They saw David standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Dave, what are you doing here?" Chloe asked.

"I'm supposed to escort Max to the swimming hall to meet Principal Grant and Ms. Bennett," David said, looking seriously at the brunette.

"David," Max said shyly. "I'm so sorry about the pepper spray. I know I wasn't supposed to use it that way."

The chief of Blackwell security grunted briefly, before he opened his mouth. "I can't say that I wasn't disappointed in you, Max," he said, ignoring the stinging glance that Chloe cast to him. "Still, it was my call to give the spray to you, and truth be told, I'd probably do it again. There's something about that Bennett woman that gives me the creeps."

"Well, what's done is done," Max sighed. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

In previous years, the Vortex Club had been responsible for organizing the Halloween party. After the shooting and everything that had unravelled in the aftermath, Victoria Chase, as the acting president, had called up an extra meeting. In the meeting, she had motioned the disbanding of the Vortex Club on the grounds of the negative association of the club to the recent events. The motion had been seconded and since no opposing motions had been presented, the motion was accepted without needing to vote on the matter. On October 9th, 2013, the Vortex Club was officially disbanded. The End of the World party had been cancelled and a small event to commemorate Rachel Amber was held instead.

For the Halloween party planning, a temporary work group, consisting of former Vortex Club members, other students and Blackwell staff, had been appointed. The party was going to be strictly intoxicant free and anyone caught with contraband substances or intoxicated would be removed from the premises.

The swimming pool acted as the party premises as usual. Music could be heard playing quite a distance from the swimming hall. People were mingling along the path to the entrance. Max and Chloe, accompanied by David, approached the door, where Michelle Grant and Julia Bennett were waiting.

Chloe squeezed Max's hand. "I'm with you all the way, babe," she said to the brunette.

"Thanks, love," Max responded to the squeeze. She cast a quick glance towards David. The security officer didn't seem to react in any way to the display of affection between the two young women.

The party arrived at the door. Michelle Grant's serious expression was contrasted by the smirk of Julia Bennett. Max did her best to keep her emotions at bay. She felt the punk's grip tighten in her hand. She couldn't tell which one of them Chloe was trying to calm down, though.

"Ms. Bennett," Max began with a quiet voice. "I want to express my sincere apologies for my assault on your person. It was absolutely uncalled-for. I have been dealing with some personal issues, which clouded my judgment. I am willing to accept whatever repercussions the school board might pass and I shall seek professional help. I am so, so sorry." She let go of Chloe's hand and gave hers to Julia.

"Ms. Caulfield, it's a shame we couldn't meet under better circumstances. I've been told you are quite a talented photographer," Julia answered, still smirking and shaking the given hand.

While they were shaking hands, Max leaned forward next to Julia's ear. "Mark sends his regards," the brunette whispered so quietly that only Julia could hear it. When she let go of the older woman's hand, she saw that the smirk on her face had faded a bit.

"Are we good?" Max asked from Mrs. Grant.

The acting principal cast a quick glance to the woman standing next to her, who had managed to restore her composure. Julia Bennett nodded in accordance.

"Enjoy your evening at the party!" Michelle Grant simply said.

"I'll be in my office, if you need me," David Madsen said to the principal and excused himself.

Max and Chloe stepped inside the pool hall.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Nutjob!" Courtney Wagner in a witch costume said smugly when they made it to the desk by the cloakroom.

"Good thing you have a chaperone to keep you restrained," Taylor Christensen in a she-devil costume accompanied the other girl.

Chloe frowned angrily and was about to open her mouth but an icy voice behind the two other girls interrupted her.

"Courtney, Taylor, a word." Victoria stood behind the two girls in her Bayonetta costume, staring at them sternly. After a short exchange of words, the two girls returned meekly with the tall blonde on their heels.

"We're sorry, Max," Courtney said humbly.

"Yeah, enjoy your evening," Taylor continued.

"Now scram!" Victoria snapped to them, making them retreat to the pool area.

"You've trained your minions well, Victoria," Chloe grinned.

The blonde frowned at the brunette briefly. "Sorry about that, Max. I should've prepped them beforehand," she said apologetically.

"What did you tell them?" Max asked.

"That the whole incident was a result of a trauma that you're suffering from and that you're off limits from now on," Victoria explained.

"So, basically I'm a nutjob but they can't pick on me about it?"

"Well, I couldn't exactly tell them the truth, could I?"

"I guess not," Max admitted. "Nice Halloween costume by the way!"

"Thanks!" The black wig wearing blonde smiled behind the glasses that belonged to the costume. "Took some time and effort to get all the pieces together. You, on the other hand are totally stuck in the retro zone," she remarked.

"I'll take that as a compliment," the brunette grinned.

"You should. I for one can appreciate the attention to detail that you've put into your costume," Victoria said, looking at the smaller girl. "Wherever did you manage to find genuine vintage 501s?"

"From a thrift store," Max said matter-of-factly.

"Figures." Victoria rolled her eyes.

All three entered the pool area. The music that was muffled by the door now blared in its full effect. Max recognized the song to be 'Omen' by The Prodigy. The pool area looked pretty much the same as it had looked at the End of the World party in the other timeline. The only difference was the Halloween themed decorations with pumpkins, bats, skeletons and cobwebs. Stroboscopic lamps were flashing and a disco ball was spinning in the ceiling. Max looked around and was delighted, when she saw a familiar face.

"Kate!" Max waved the smaller girl towards them.

"Max!" Kate responded and walked to the threesome. "Chloe, Victoria," she greeted the other girls promptly.

"That's some costume, Kate, or should I say Marge?" the brunette said, admiring the costume that the petite girl was wearing.

Kate's regular blonde bun had transformed into a foot long blue beehive. She was wearing a light green plain strapless dress and her visible skin was covered in yellow greasepaint, making her the spitting image of Marge Simpson.

"Thank you, Max," Kate responded. "You all look awesome."

"Totes love the hair, Kate," Chloe remarked.

"A true harbinger of moral virtue," Victoria sighed and was rewarded with Marge Simpson's trademark growl. "Just kidding, Katie. You've done a fantastic job," she added.

"Your Bayonetta costume isn't bad either," Kate let her expression soften. "Strange to see you together, though."

"Well, this is what you'd call a special circumstance," Max admitted. "Although there's more than meets the eye to Victoria."

"Shush! I got a reputation to maintain," the tall blonde blurted.

"Hey Max! Good to see you back!" Evan Harris joined the girls. He had dressed up as Severus Snape.

"Hey Evan! Thanks!" Max responded. "How are things at Hogwarts, 'Professor Snape'?"

"Things are good, 'Ms. McFly'"

Nice costume!" Max complimented. "Alan Rickman was such a great actor."

"'Was'?" Evan asked with a bemused expression.

"Err, 'is'," the brunette corrected quickly and bit her tongue. _Gotta remember that you are not living in 2017 anymore, Caulfield!_

"Max, I'm gonna go chat with the DJ for a sec," Chloe leaned closer to the brunette's ear so that she didn't have to shout.

"Ok. I'll have a word with Vic somewhere more private," Max said and placed a kiss on the brunette's cheek, resulting with lifted eyebrows from both the receiver of the kiss and others present. "Oh, Chloe and I are sort of an item now."

"Oh, congratulations you two!" Kate said, when she had recovered from her initial amazement.

"Thank you!" the brunette smiled and turned to face her partner. "You ok with me outing us like this, love?"

"Sure, babe" the brunette smiled. "But I'm gonna bail now, before things get too mushy." She returned the kiss and excused herself.

"Vic, is there some place where we can talk?" Max asked the blonde.

"Follow me," Victoria answered and walked towards the end of the pool area, where a section had been isolated with a curtain.

"Talk to you later, Kate," Max said to the smaller girl and followed the other, whose boot heels looked like pistols.

"Welcome to the lounge, Max!" Victoria said as she opened the curtain. "This used to be the VIP section back in Vortex Club days. Now it is open for everyone."

They both entered the lounge. Max saw that the space hadn't changed much from the last time she had been there. Tables and chairs were scattered around and there were beverages on the long table, alcohol-free this time, though. Victoria made her way towards one table in the corner, where two girls were sitting. When they saw, who was coming, they quickly vacated the seats around the table. Vortex Club or no Vortex Club, the Queen Bee still carried prestige.

"So, what's the plan?" the blonde asked as she took her glasses off.

"Chloe and I are going to check out that warehouse," Max began. "We'll try to find any evidence that would link Julia to Janice's death and hopefully a clue as to where her body might be."

"How can I help?"

"We'd need you to keep an eye on Julia. If she leaves the party, give us a heads up."

"I can do that. Anything else?"

"Can you get in touch with Janice?" Max asked.

"I can try." Victoria shrugged her shoulders. "If I concentrate hard enough on Janice, she may come but I can't give any guarantees."

"If there's any way she could shed some light on her whereabouts that would be great."

"I see what I can do," Victoria promised.

"Just be careful," Max said to the blonde. "If Julia is planning to make her move on you, this night will most probably be when it's going to happen."

"Don't worry. Courtney and Taylor will have my back. I shouldn't have any trouble to stay ahead of Julia, if I'm on her tail. I'll –" Victoria stopped at mid-sentence, when 'Ace of Spades' by Motörhead started playing. She saw Chloe approaching the table with a wide grin on her mouth. "I suppose it's you who we can thank for this… whatever this is." She cast a stern look at the brunette.

"Oh, lighten up, Vic! This is a classic!" Chloe said, still grinning.

"Well, at least there's something you have in common with Max. You both are stuck in the retro zone."

Max was contemplating, whether she should step in before the discussion would get too heated up. Luckily, distraction came in the form of Warren and Brooke, who were dressed up as John Steed and Emma Peel.

"Hey Super Max!" the young man greeted. "I never would've guessed, you'd go with a Back to the Future theme. Nice work!"

"Hi Warren and Brooke," Max responded. "Yours aren't too bad either."

Warren had a sixties style three-piece suite with a bowler hat and an umbrella. Brooke was wearing a leather cat suite, which seemed to loosen an approving glance from Victoria.

"Brooke, Wapner," the punk greeted the couple briefly, ignoring annoyed expression on the young man's face. Chloe just couldn't resist the temptation to twist Warren's name. "Max, I think I' going to go 'catch some fresh air'," she said to the brunette, gesturing with her fingers that she actually wanted a smoke. "Wanna join?"

"Sure," the brunette said and stood up. This was a cue that they had agreed upon beforehand to excuse themselves. "See you all later!"

The two girls went through the pool area and exited the swimming hall. They made their way to the parking zone.

"Yours or mine?" Chloe asked.

"Mine is closer," Max said. "I don't want to take any more steps than is absolutely necessary with this frickin' crutch."

A few moments later, the blue Ranchero backed out from its spot and headed downtown.

* * *

David Madsen was sitting at his computer and going through all the material related to Julia Bennett for the umpteenth time. This time, however he had come across something peculiar. According to her Facebook profile, Julia had graduated from the Seattle University in 2003. This had been confirmed from the university office, when he had done a background check on her. On the other hand, the Seattle University advertised Julia Bennett as one of their alumni, so he had really no reason to doubt her education.

For no particular reason, David had decided to go through the online version of the Seattle University yearbook from that year. That's where he found it, or didn't find it. There wasn't a single record or picture of Julia Bennett in the yearbook. Otherwise it would've been easy to ignore as someone just not wanting to be in the yearbook, but not in the case of Julia Bennett, who loved to be in the spotlight, nicely put. She should have been at least credited for some of the photos that were taken for the book. Yet, there was nothing related to Julia Bennett in that book.

David didn't have access to the university's student records and there would be no one in the office at this hour, especially since it was Halloween. But David didn't really need access to the student records. Besides the marking on Facebook and her diploma, he had not been able to find records about Julia prior 2007. That could only mean one thing: Julia Bennett had not always been Julia Bennett.

_But if that's the case, then who the heck is she?_

* * *

Max parked in front of the warehouse. She and Chloe stepped out of the truck. The brunette was glad for being able to leave the crutch behind. They walked to the door. The sturdy padlock was securing the door.

"What are we going to do about this?" Chloe asked, as she tugged on the lock.

"Leave it to me," the brunette said and took the padlock in her hand. A few moments later the padlock no longer existed.

"Your powers never cease to amaze me, babe," Chloe said in awe.

Max pulled the handle and the door opened. "Apparently Julia trusted that padlock so much that she didn't bother to use the door's lock," she remarked.

They both entered the warehouse. Max flicked the lights on. They made their way through the boxes and crates to the open space. The white background and lamp posts along with one camera on a tripod were still there, ready for use. Half a dozen camera bags were stored under the table, and on the top, there was a laptop.

"This room is bringing back hella bad memories," Chloe said.

"Yeah, to me too," Max concurred. "Would you look around and see if you can find anything interesting? I'm going to see what's on the laptop," she said to her partner.

"Sure thing," Chloe answered and began searching through the items that were in the room.

Max turned the laptop on, only to find it password protected. "Damn, this thing is locked!"

"Are you going to guess and reverse?" the punk asked.

"Naah, too tedious," the brunette said, grinning mischievously. "I'll just reverse the thing to a point, when it wasn't locked." Max placed her hands on the laptop and concentrated. Soon, the desktop was in her view. _Here's to your bullshit code puzzles!_

"Way to go, Max!" Chloe said, when she saw the laptop desktop to come up.

"Let's see what we have here…"

* * *

Victoria was standing in the girl's shower room, trying to see in the dark. She had seen Julia enter the room, so she had decided to follow to make sure that the photography teacher didn't plan on leaving. Victoria had told Cortney and Taylor to wait at the shower room entrance, in case that Julia would double back.

She had not been able to get in touch with Janice as hard as she had tried, so she had given up on that. Now she had more pressing matters on her mind.

Victoria would have wanted to switch on the lights but she didn't want to let the older woman know that she was being followed. She slowly fumbled her way through the shower room towards the lockers.

 _Where the fuck is she?_ Victoria thought in frustration. She would have to find her soon, or otherwise she'd have to call and warn Max. She kept fumbling in the dark between the lockers and still seeing no sign of the teacher.

 _Oh crap! She must've slipped out. I must make my way back and warn Max!_ Victoria turned around and began to make her way back to the pool area. Just then someone grabbed her from behind and pressed a moist cloth against her mouth. The sweet smell on her nose made her feet slack and a few seconds later she passed out.

* * *

Max was delving into Julia's laptop and was beginning to feel frustrated. She had performed a search for known image formats but the resulting images were nothing out of the ordinary. She took a moment to look at some of the pictures that she could find. As vile as Julia Bennett might be, she certainly was a talented photographer. Julia's trademark was to keep the composition quite Spartan to focus on the subject. She also used leading lines and diagonals to add dynamics into the picture. A clever use of filters to bring out one color gave that final touch to the works that had made Julia Bennett a renowned photographer.

All this didn't bring Max and Chloe any closer to figuring out what had happened to Janice. Max noticed that that there was one folder that contained files with names that were complete gibberish. She tried opening one file but the window was just filled with more of the same gibberish.

 _These files are encrypted somehow,_ the brunette thought. _They must be important._ She began looking for an application that would enable her to view the files but there appeared to be none. She looked around and noticed a small device on the table. It looked like a USB drive. _I wonder…_ She took the USB device and stuck it into a free port. Almost instantly, the gibberish file names became readable and Max clicked one of them.

The brunette gasped, when she saw the subject of the picture. It was Janice, who was tied and slowly bleeding to death. The picture was otherwise black and white, save for the blood, which stuck out in crimson. The expression on Janice's face was a mixture of horror and stagnation. Max clenched the mouse in shock, when she went through the pictures one by one.

"Chloe, come here!" she waved at the punk. "I found something."

Chloe walked to the brunette and looked at the images. "That heartless bitch!" she growled as she put her hands on her partner's shoulder.

There was another folder, whose contents the dongle had unencrypted. Both of the girls gasped in shock, when they opened the first file.

It was a picture of Max, lying on the floor, tied and looking drugged. The same way she had been, when Mark Jefferson had held her captive.

"What is this, Max?" Chloe asked, when the brunette opened more of the similar pictures.

"I don't understand. They look like the pictures that Jefferson took of me but they shouldn't exist in this timeline," Max said and zoomed in one of the images. "Wait a minute! These are photoshopped! She's posed Janice the same way as Jefferson and then edited my head into them."

"How can you tell?"

"The heads in these pictures, I recognize them!" the brunette exclaimed. "These are from the pictures in my montage." A flash of anger rushed through her. "That bitch has been to my room!"

"Why has she gone through all the trouble to rig these pictures up?" Chloe asked with a baffled look on her face.

"She wants to set me up," Max said angrily. "It's no coincidence that these pictures look like Mark Jefferson's work. Julia wants everyone to think that I am one of his victims. I bet my behavior in the last days provided her an opportunity to incriminate me for Janice's death. She'd just need to plant these conveniently."

"And if she kills Victoria, that would be on you also," the punk added. "The pictures and your behavior would make you the perfect suspect."

"Well, this ought to put a little snag into her plans," Max said, as she selected all the pictures of her and deleted them.

"Look! Here are the originals" Max pointed to another set of pictures. "These we can use."

Max made unencrypted copies of some of the pictures and attached them into an email. She typed Stacy Kowalski's and John Korhonen's email address into the recipient fields and clicked 'Send'. She composed another email with the same pictures but this time she put David Madsen as recipient and sent that also. Finally, Max deleted both emails from the sent items. "That should do it."

"Why'd you send these pictures instead of those, where Janice was shot?" Chloe asked.

"Because, if there's a slightest chance that we can save Janice, then no-one can know that she's dead."

"Save… you mean…"

"Yes, Chloe," the brunette said with determination. "I'm going to resurrect her. It'll mean that they can only charge Julia for kidnapping and abuse but even that should send her to prison for a long time." With that, Max selected all the pictures, where Janice was bleeding to death and deleted them too, leaving only the pictures, where Janice was tied and drugged.

"I found something too," Chloe said and showed an envelope. There's a passport and huge wad of cash. I'd say at least 50,000 dollars."

"Julia's apparently planning to jump ship," Max said. "Well it wouldn't take much time for the cops to see that the pictures of me are photoshopped, but it would distract them long enough so that she could leave the country." The brunette tapped her fingers on the keyboard for a second. "Give me that passport."

"Here ya go," the punk gave the passport to her partner, who held it in her hands for a moment, before it vanished.

"Good luck with getting out of the country without a passport, bitch!"

"Err, Max, what about the money?" Chloe asked.

"Knock yourself out!" the brunette waved her hand. "I'm not gonna lose my sleep over it."

"Ka'ching!" Chloe tucked the envelope into her pocket.

"Can you look around and see if you can find Janice's body?" Max said to the punk. "I'll wrap up here and join you."

"Yeah, try to hurry. I'm getting bad vibes from this place." Chloe disappeared behind the boxes.

Max went through the files once more to see that she had deleted all the pictures that she meant to delete. She locked the laptop and closed the lid. She also pulled the USB dongle out and put it where she had taken it. _Good thing she didn't have this with her._

Max made her way towards the stack of boxes to join Chloe in her search for Janice's body. She'd almost made it to the corridor, when she heard a slam behind the corner.

"Chloe, is that-" was all Max managed to say as she made it around the corner. She wasn't able to finish the sentence as a sudden jolt of electricity went through her body and she fell slack on the ground. She couldn't move but she saw Julia standing in the corridor, holding what looked like a Taser.

"Hello, dear," the woman said, smirking. "Here's a little payback for that pepper spray."

That was the last thing Max registered, before another jolt from the stun gun put her unconscious.

* * *

David was scratching his head in front of the computer. He'd spent the last hour trying to figure out, which one of the female graduates from the Seattle University on 2003 was Julia Bennett, but to no avail. Every single student was accounted for. Most could be found in the social media. A few had died, mostly due natural causes. It was always a possibility that Julia could have staged her own death but none of the deceased seemed to match the profile. Either the timing didn't match or the cause of death left little room for doubt.

David decided to approach this from another angle. He opened his notes about Mark Jefferson. _What is the connection between Mark Jefferson and Julia Bennett?_ David asked himself. He came across the marking about Jefferson's assistant, Joseph Adams. _Wait a second, I saw that name somewhere!_ He tabbed through open windows and stopped at the online version of the Class of 2003 yearbook. He scrolled down to the portrait pages and found what he was looking for. There, in the beginning, was a portrait of Joseph Adams. He had graduated from Seattle University in the same year as Julia Bennett.

David looked up the editorial credits of the yearbook. Joseph Adams was credited as the primary photographer of the book. _It can't possibly be…_ He googled Joseph Adams. Some of the resulting information he already knew, like that Joseph had been Jefferson's assistant. What he didn't know that there were no records of him beyond 2005. David opened his notes of Julia even though he already knew what they contained. There were no records of Julia Bennett prior 2007. That could only mean one thing, how incredible it might sound.

 _Joseph Adams is Julia Bennett!_ David leaned back on his chair and rested his hands on his forehead. This is the connection between Julia Bennett and Mark Jefferson! This was what Chloe and Max wanted him to find out. How they knew this was beyond him but this nevertheless was what he was looking for. Gender change as such wasn't a crime but Bennett's connection to Jefferson would certainly raise some questions.

 _Still, I can't see how this is going to help Max's case…_ David was pulled out of his thoughts, when he got a notification of incoming email. _Speak of the devil…_ he thought as he saw the sender. He opened the mail and saw that there were pictures attached to it. He opened one and gasped, when he saw what was in it.

_Dear Lord!_

* * *

Up in Seattle, Detective Stacy Kowalski was studying the email from WITSEC. After a lengthy process, she had got a response that no-one under the alias of Julia Bennett was in the witness protection program.

 _So much for that lead,_ Kowalski thought as she took a sip from her coffee. There was something odd with Julia Bennett that she couldn't put her finger on. A chime on her computer pulled her out of her thoughts. She'd got email from Julia Bennett. _Maybe she remembered something that she hadn't in the questioning._ Julia opened the mail and was surprised to see that there was no message, just a few pictures attached. She opened one of them and almost dropped her coffee mug.

"Finn, come over here, pronto!" Stacy shouted to her partner.

Detective Sergeant John Korhonen walked to Kowalski's desk. "What is it?"

"Did you open that email yet from Julia Bennett?" Stacy asked.

"No, not yet was there something-" Finn stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the picture. "Jesus!"

"What do you think?"

"I think we need to get someone over at the Arcadia Bay PD on the phone."

* * *

The first thing Max registered, was the humming sound in her head. _Where am I…?_ She opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times to adjust to the dim. Max realized that she was sitting in her truck. She tried to move her arms but they were taped to the steering wheel. She tried to tug harder but she couldn't get her arms off the wheel.

"Oh, you're awake, dear," Max heard Julia Bennett say from the outside. "Perfect timing!"

"You bitch!" Max snapped. "What have you done with Chloe?"

"Please mind your language, dear," Julia said smugly. "I would be more worried about what's going to happen to me, if I were you."

"What do you mean-" Max started but then she saw that the Ranchero was parked in the middle of a railroad crossing.

"You know, I actually hadn't planned on using anyone as a scapegoat but your unexpected hostility towards me offered an opportunity that I just had to take," Julia explained. "You were one of Mark's victims and the experience drove you insane, therefore you decided to get revenge on Mark by kidnapping and murdering two of your friends that had won the Everyday Heroes contest. The temporary studio that I had set up provided you with the facilities for your act. After that you decided to take your own life by letting a train hit you. I left a little suicide note to accompany you."

"You'll never get away with this!" Max said furiously.

"On the contrary, my dear," Julia said. "When they find out the truth, I'll be out of the country. - But look at the time! I think the train is in schedule for a change. Got to run." The woman turned on her heels and walked away.

Max watched helplessly as Julia disappeared behind the curve. She looked down the track and she could see the headlight of the train in the distance. _Oh fuck! I gotta get out of here!_

As the train came closer, Max concentrated on the duct tape that bound her wrists on the steering wheel. _Come on, come on!_ After what felt like an eternity, the tape cuffs vanished and Max was free. Accompanied by horn blows and screeching brakes from the closing train, she put her hand on the ignition switch, only to find that the key wasn't there. _She took the key!_

At the last possible moment, Max pushed the driver's door open and dashed off the track. Only seconds later the train hit the Ranchero, crushing it to an unrecognizable hulk of steel, rubber and glass and finally pushing it off the track.

The brunette rose on her knees. Save for a few scratches and bruises, she appeared to be all right. The same couldn't be said about her truck though, which lay demolished on the side of the track. Max had no time to grieve over the destroyed vehicle right now. She had no idea what had happened to Chloe and since they hadn't got any warning from Victoria, she could only assume that Julia got her.

Max started running towards the warehouse. Once she would get there, she'd try to locate either Chloe or Victoria, then they would figure out what to do next.

Max was half way down the road to the warehouse, when the ground below her feet began to tremor vigorously. The shaking was so strong that she fell to the ground. Max took support with one arm to make it into a sitting position and looked around. It took a few moments, before her brain could process what was going on. _An earthquake!_

Max had never experienced an earthquake before but she could tell that this was a big one. She had a clear line of sight to both the lighthouse and the clock tower of Blackwell main building from where she was sitting. Max would later recall the following seconds one of the most astounding moments of her life but on the other hand the most magnificent of her missed photo opportunities.

First, Max saw, how the lighthouse begin to lean on one side, before cracking from the base and falling into the ocean. Next, she saw how the clock tower of Blackwell collapsed, raising an enormous cloud of dust and debris. Trees around her fell down and cracks appeared to the ground. Some of the nearby buildings collapsed. Max couldn't see the town but she could imagine that the level of destruction over there was at least the same. When she had recovered from her initial shock, her brain made the deduction. _This is my doing! Arcadia Bay is again in ruins._

The brunette just sat down in shock as the quake slowly settled down. Her brain simply refused to process the devastation that had occurred. Max could've possibly fallen into catatonic state but the self-preservation mechanisms of her psyche brought up a merciful distraction.

 _Chloe! Victoria! I need to find them!_ Max stood up and took a few hesitating steps towards the warehouse. A few steps later she was running as fast as she could.

* * *

David was trying to process all the information that had revealed itself during the last few hours. Julia Bennett was a transsexual, formerly known as Joseph Adams, who had been Mark Jefferson's assistant. Now he also had received a set of pictures of a bound young woman attached to an email that Julia Bennett had sent. The pictures resembled Mark Jefferson's handiwork but the timestamps were just a few days old, so they couldn't have been taken by Jefferson.

David knew that Julia Bennett wouldn't have emailed the pictures herself, which would mean that someone else had accessed Bennett's personal computer without her knowing. He could hazard a guess who that someone was. While the source of the pictures was questionable, they provided a probable cause for conducting a search on the premises and Bennett's laptop. He'd need to run it by Principal Grant, though. David wasn't exactly on the acting principal's good books and stepping over her in this matter would probably mean that he would have to start looking for a new job.

David made sure that he had a copy of the email on his mobile and left his office. He figured that the principal would still be at the party. There was no time to waste. As soon as he would have talked this through with Principal Grant, he'd call Lt. Rossi, so that the police could search the premises.

Just as David had stepped out of the main building, the ground began to shake violently. His military training took over and he instinctively put some distance between him and the building. He managed to get about fifty feet away from the entrance, before the shaking threw him off balance.

 _An earthquake! How is this-_ David's thoughts were interrupted as the clock tower of the main building came crumbling down. He stood up quickly and ran further from the falling debris. He threw himself again to the ground just before the emerging cloud of dust swarmed over him.

* * *

 _"The number you're trying to call, cannot be reached at the moment. Please try again later. -_ _El número al que está intentando llamar…"_ Stacy Kowalski was stared at her phone in disbelief. This was the third number in the Arcadia Bay Police Department she had tried to call, with the same result. The ABPD appeared to be completely off the grid. Stacy picked up the mobile number of Lieutenant Chris Rossi and tried that. _"The number you're trying to call…"_ She looked up the switch of Arcadia Bay City Hall. _"The number…"_ _What the fuck!_ Stacy exclaimed in her thoughts. She opened up the TripAdvisor web page and looked up the restaurants. _The Two Whales Diner… "The number you're trying…"_

"Finn, I think something's wrong in Arcadia Bay!" Stacy called her partner.

* * *

Victoria woke up in the dark. She felt groggy and her head was pounding. She tried to move her arms but they were bound together from the wrists with duct tape along with her ankles. Her first inclination was to cry for help but she managed to restrain herself at the last moment. Her captor might be close by and she didn't want her to know that she was awake just yet.

Victoria tried to recall what had happened before everything went dark. She had been tailing Julia into the girls' locker room. Apparently Julia had noticed that Victoria was tailing her and decided to lure her into a trap.

Victoria tried to look around. It was dim but she recognized the place to be the makeshift studio where they had been the other day. There was no sign of Max and Chloe anywhere, so there might be a slim hope left. Victoria had not told Courtney and Taylor anything other than to keep an eye for the shower room entrance in case Julia would come out of there. For all she knew, they'd still be waiting by the entrance.

Just then, the ground began to shake. The stacks of boxes and crates around Victoria collapsed and fell to the ground, accompanied by shattering lamps. She screamed in panic as the shards flew across her. The tied blonde tried her best to keep clear from the falling debris but there was no way she could've avoided the one box that fell upon her from the nearby stack. She cried in pain, when the box fell on her.

A few moments later, the ground settled. Victoria opened her eyes. She was still alive. A box was lying on top of her lower body. She was still in pain from the impact but she couldn't tell if something was broken.

"Victoria!" the blonde heard a man's voice to call her name. She saw William leaned over her.

"Are you all right?" Janice appeared next to the man.

"I… I think so, but I can't move," Victoria answered. "Was… was that an earthquake?"

"I think so," William answered. "Luckily this building didn't collapse."

"I need to get out of here," Victoria said frantically. "The woman who kidnapped me may still be nearby and I don't know what has happened to my friends."

"We'd love to help but since we are intangible, we won't be able to lift the box off of you," Janice said.

They were interrupted by a sound of boxes being moved around. Someone was trying to create a passage to them.

"Is it her?" Victoria asked.

Janice phased through the boxes to take a peek and returned with a relieved expression.

"It's all right. It's Maxine," the spirit said, as the brunette moved the last box out of her way.

"Victoria!" Max exclaimed when she saw the blonde lying on the ground. "Are you all right?"

"I can't move," Victoria said. "William and Janice are here but they can't really help me."

"Oh my god, this is my fault," Max said, when she knelt over the blonde and undid the duct tape.

"What do you mean?" Victoria asked, taken aback.

"The earthquake! It happened because of me, because I couldn't restrain myself from using my powers," the brunette said, tears falling down her cheeks. "I should've known better! Now, Arcadia Bay is in ruins and god knows how many people are dead because of me."

"Max, you can't blame it on yourself!" Victoria said. "There's no way you could've know this would happen!"

"But I knew that something like this might happen, if I used my powers."

"I hate to pull you away from your guilt trip but Julia may return any moment," Victoria said. "Can you get this box off of me?"

The brunette went to the box and tried to lift it, to no avail. "I can't, it's too heavy."

"Could you use your powers somehow?" the blonde asked?

"I-," Victoria could see the hesitation on the brunette's face and she couldn't really blame her, after what had just happened. It would appear though that Max wouldn't have to make the decision, as Victoria saw Chloe barging in.

"Finally found you guys!" the punk said.

"Chloe, quickly! Help Max to lift this box off of me!" Victoria said to her.

"Chloe? Where is she?" Max's expression brightened up and she turned her head around.

"She's right there…" Victoria's voice faded away, when she realized that the punk wasn't wearing her Halloween costume, and that Max clearly couldn't see her.

Chloe stopped and looked around perplexed. She couldn't hide her amazement, when she recognized the man standing next to Max and Victoria. "Dad?"

"Chloe?" William said as a wave of revelation hit him upon seeing his daughter.

Chloe turned to look at the brunette, whose expression had changed from delighted to desperate within a blink of an eye. She gazed at her own hands for second, before she realized.

"Oh crap!"

**To be continued...**


	11. Ground Zero

**October 31 – November 1, 2013**

Chloe opened her eyes. She was surrounded by darkness. She blinked her eyes a few times to get her bearings. _What the fuck happened?_ She stood up and looked around. She was in a small space surrounded by stacks of boxes. In one corner, there was a rolled up transparent sheet of plastic, was held together with a string. Chloe leaned closer to the roll and could make out the shape of a human body through the plastic. _Oh yeah, now I remember!_

Chloe had found Janice's body stashed away here and was going to go tell Max, when everything had gone dark. _Julia must've jumped on me,_ she thought as she straightened her body. _I have to warn Max!_ Chloe ran through the narrow corridor between fallen boxes towards the larger space where she had left the brunette. _Odd, I don't remember this junk being scattered around like this. How long was I out?_ She reached the makeshift studio and saw Max trying to lift a box from top of Victoria.

"Finally found you guys!" the punk said.

"Chloe, quickly! Help Max to lift this box off of me!" Victoria said to her.

"Chloe? Where is she?" Chloe saw Max turn to face in her general direction, with her expression brightening up.

"She's right there…" Victoria's voice faded away.

Chloe looked at the brunette in amazement. Max looked like she didn't see her. The punk looked around. There was also a girl that she had never seen and an older man, who looked awfully familiar. It took a few seconds, before she realized that she was looking at her father.

"Dad?" Chloe said in amazement.

"Chloe?" William Price said equally amazed.

Chloe turned to look at the brunette, whose previously brightened expression had turned to one of despair. She looked at her hands briefly, before her brain told her what everyone else seemed to know. She was dead. Again. Julia Bennett had not just jumped on her, she had killed her.

"Oh crap!"

* * *

David Madsen lifted his head. He was completely covered in dirt and debris and the hovering dust made him cough uncontrollably. His mind was still trying to catch up with his instinctive reaction, honed in military training. David stood slowly up, trying to feel his limbs. Though pretty much every imaginable muscle in his body was aching, no bones appeared to be broken.

David wiped the dust from his face and squinted, trying to see in front of him. _Jesus fucking Christ!_ There was an unrecognizable pile of rubble where the clock tower of the Blackwell campus main building had once stood. Both wings appeared to be structurally intact even though all the windows were broken. From what he could tell from there, the dormitory building seemed to be standing for the time being. David's main concern though was the swimming hall where most of the students still were. He ran around the corner to the swimming hall. He was horrified to see that the building was partially collapsed. _Oh dear god!_

David picked up his phone. It appeared to be intact but there was no service. He took his walkie-talkie from his utility belt and pressed the talk button.

"Everyone, this is Madsen! I'm at the front of the swimming hall. Give me your 20 and status!"

"Gonzales here! I'm by the dormitory. A little shaken up but ok."

"Hauser, at the parking lot. A-Okay."

"Beaudreaux here! I'm in the swimming hall. The roof collapsed on us. I'm stuck with some students in the lounge area. Some of them are okay but I can see some buried under the rubble. A beam landed on my leg. Can't move it."

"Ok, try to hang in there," David said. "Gonzales, try to get in contact with the emergency service! Try also to find Samuel and see, if there is anyone in the dormitory. Do not enter the dormitory by yourself! Do you copy?"

"10-4!" Gonzales complied.

"Hauser, with me!"

"Roger!"

David walked towards the entrance of the swimming hall. A few people had made it outside and were trying to help others out through the doors. A small girl with a disheveled beehive hairdo was holding the door open. He recognized the girl even though she was covered in dust.

"Kate Marsh!" David shouted.

"Mr. Madsen!" Kate answered as she saw who was calling her. "Oh my goodness! Are you all right?"

"I'll live," the man answered. "Look! I'm going to need your help! Take a couple of people and try to gather up some first aid supplies, whatever you can find. Then organize a shelter, away from the buildings, where you can tend the wounded, at least until the rescue units arrive. The communication networks are down, so it may take a while."

"A-alright," the petite blonde said, slightly overwhelmed about the sudden responsibility. She took a moment to survey the people standing around her. "Dana, Trevor, follow me!"

Security Officer Earl Hauser arrived at the swimming hall. "What's the plan, David?"

"There'll most likely be an aftershock any moment soon. We need to get as many people as possible out of the building," David said with concern.

"Ok, let's go in," Hauser complied.

Both men headed to the entrance. Individual people were still slowly swarming out. David opened the door and switched on his flashlight. It was practically impossible to see more than a few feet ahead of him, due to the darkness and dust. There were cries of distress and agony all around him.

"Ok, you check the hall and the lockers, I'll check the pool area," David instructed his colleague. "Give me status reports by radio every five minutes!"

"Will do." Hauser headed towards the lockers.

David stepped inside the pool section. This was where the damage seemed to be at its worst. A few of the supporting beams had collapsed directly over the swimming pool, practically separating the lounge from the rest of the place. There were a few people struggling in the water among the debris. Others were just floating lifelessly. David grabbed a pole and pulled the floundering people up. He then used the pole to pull all the lifeless bodies closer to the edge and with the help of the others lifted them up. After checking the vitals, he ordered the others to carry the unconscious people out and begin resuscitation. David himself continued deeper into the pool section towards the lounge.

"It looks like there might be a passage through to the lounge from the other side of the pool. I'm going to check it out," David talked in to the radio.

"Hauser here! I made it to the lockers. There are two girls trapped by the entrance to the pool section. I should be able to get them out."

"Any sign of Principal Grant or Ms. Bennett?"

"Not here," Hauser responded.

"I'm not sure," Beaudreaux said. "Grant may be here but not sure about Bennett."

"Alright. Hauser, once you're finished, come to help me!" David put the walkie-talkie on his belt and began to move the debris out of his way. Until now, he'd pretty much been on autopilot. Now, he let himself to think and assess the whole situation and the first thing that hit his mind was: _Joyce and Chloe!_ David knew that his wife was supposed to be at the diner. He had no idea how the diner would withstand an earthquake of this magnitude. He had not seen Chloe or Max anywhere. The mysterious email he had received led him to believe that they had not been at the campus, when the earthquake had occurred. That didn't put him any more at ease. He glanced quickly at his phone but there was still no service. He would have to find a landline and try to call the diner. That would have to wait though, as he had responsibility to make sure that everyone got out. _God, please let them be all right._

* * *

This wasn't the first time Max had seen Chloe die and ever since the brunette had woken up tied in her truck, she had feared the worst. Neither of those had made the emotional blow any easier when Max realized that her soulmate was once again dead. The fact that Chloe's spirit was in front of her didn't offer much consolation either. Max knew that she might be able to resurrect Chloe with her powers but after the earthquake she was afraid of using them for anything. On the other hand, she couldn't get Victoria out by herself and Julia was still somewhere out there. Still, the earthquake might be just a prelude to a bigger cataclysm. _Oh, who the fuck am I kidding?_ Her heart knew the answer before her brain even began to contemplate the options.

"Chloe, can you hear me?" Max spoke to the assumed position of the punk's spirit.

"She can hear you," Victoria relayed the question.

"Do you know where your body is?"

"She says she thinks she knows. She found Janice's body too."

"Ok, I'm gonna go there and resurrect them both." Max stood up.

"Chloe asks are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No, I'm not sure, Chloe," Max addressed the spirit. "I just know that I can't bear to lose you a second time. Besides, I can't leave Victoria here alone to get help. I have to do this. Let's worry about the consequences later."

Victoria relayed the directions to Chloe's body to the brunette. Max made her way through the narrow opening between the boxes, trying to avoid stumbling on the debris. She only managed to take a few steps before someone grabbed her from behind and put a knife on her throat.

"Easy now, dear!" Max heard Julia whisper into her ear. "My hand might slip."

"Julia!" the brunette gasped.

"This is the last time you will meddle with my plans," the woman said, dragging Max back to the makeshift studio, where Victoria was still lying.

"C-Chloe…" Max whispered, hoping that the bluenette would possess Julia's body but nothing happened.

"She can't, Max," Victoria said desperately. "She says she's no longer a guardian angel."

"You get to watch, as I kill your friend slowly and painfully and then I'm going to enjoy putting an end to your miserable life!" Julia exclaimed and tightened her grip.

As Julia spoke, Max was horrified, but with each word the brunette felt her fear slowly give way to darker emotions. Her eyes narrowed as she crossed the line.

"Never again, bitch!" Max hissed, as she took hold of Julia's free hand and concentrated.

"Wha-? Gggkkk!" Julia's mouth and eyes went open as her mind tried to desperately grasp what was happening to her. If there had been a mirror, she would have seen how her body was slowly transforming. Her hair changed length and color, her nails went through different shapes, lengths and decorations and the wrinkles of her skin withdrew as she was slowly getting younger. The hand holding the knife went limp and the blade fell to the ground.

As the brunette kept on rewinding, the changes in Julia's body became more drastic. Her thighs and hips began to lose their curves and became more slender. The feminine bust flattened and the surgically made crevice in her crotch crept shut to give way to the organ she was originally born with. Julia didn't realize any of this, as her brain was trying to cope with her memories being erased from existence. In a matter of moments, Julia Bennett was gone and all that remained was Joseph Adams. But Max didn't intend to stop there.

"Max, what are you doing?" Victoria projected from the brunette's subconscious asked as her real-life counterpart followed the spectacle in horror.

"I'm ending this once and for all!" Max said coldly.

"That's murder, Max," the imaginary blonde said.

"She would've done the same for us without hesitation," the brunette retorted. "I'd call it self-defense."

"Max, Chloe is saying that she-, he's not worth it. Please let go!" the real Victoria pleaded.

"I'm not giving her-, him another chance to come to haunt us!" Max shouted as she continued the rewind on Joseph.

"Max, if you go through with this, a part of you dies with you," the imaginary Victoria looked her straight in the eyes.

"A part of me has already died!" Max said with teary eyes.

"You think it has but it hasn't. It's just lying dormant under all the horrible things that you've gone through. Things that you had no choice over," the blonde said. "In time you can get that back. But if you choose to end his life, you'd be no different than him, or Jefferson, and they would've won. That would haunt you for the rest of your days and you could never truly be happy, with or without Chloe."

"You're better than them! You are Maxine Caulfield, and you are amazing," the real Victoria relayed Chloe's words.

"You are the only one who can make this choice, Max," Max's own voice said inside her head as the imaginary Victoria vanished.

The brunette watched the remaining blonde. She knew that hers weren't the only eyes that were focused on her. Max could actually feel Chloe's anticipation of what would happen. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she bit her lower lip momentarily, before she relaxed her grip and let go. Max stepped away to face the person who only moments earlier had threatened her life.

Joseph Adams, a man now in his twenties, was standing disoriented in front of the brunette. He was still wearing Julia's skirt, jacket and high heels. "W-what ha-happened? W-where am I?" he stammered. "W-why am I dressed up like this?"

Max contemplated how to deal with the new situation but before she could come up with a decision, the ground started shaking again and she was thrown off balance. This time the shaking lasted only seconds but by the time Max was back on her feet, Joseph had already disappeared.

"Where did he go?" Max asked from Victoria, who was still trapped under the box.

"I don't know. One moment he was there and the other he was gone. Are you going after him?"

Max looked at the opening between the fallen boxes. "No, I don't think we have to worry about him at the moment and I think we have more pressing matters to attend to."

"Indeed we have, Maxine Caulfield," an elderly woman's voice said.

Max turned around to see a dark-haired woman who appeared to be in her fifties standing at the side of the room. "Who are you?" the brunette asked.

"Chloe knows her," Victoria said. "She is Sara."

* * *

David was making his way through the rubble towards the lounge. Hauser was behind him, securing the makeshift passage. David pushed a piece of roof panel out of his way and got through to the lounge section. He counted four people who weren't buried under the debris, four more that were either trapped or unconscious, and then there was Beaudreaux, who was stuck under the beam. Two of the students tried to get him off while the other two tried to dig one of the buried bodies out.

"Beaudreaux! How are you?" David asked as soon as he had assessed the situation.

"Alive and breathing," Matthew Beaudreaux answered. "I think my leg's broken, though."

"I'll be with you in a sec," David said and went to the body that the two students had just dug out. It was Michelle Grant. Her mahogany shade skin was pale grey due to the dust that covered her. David felt her neck but there was no pulse. The back of her skull had collapsed so badly that there was no point of trying to resuscitate her. David rose slowly and stood still for a brief moment. He and Michelle Grant had not seen eye to eye on many things but he had respected her as a person who stood behind her principles.

"What is it, Dave?" Beaudreaux asked as he saw David standing quietly.

"It's Principal Grant," David said laconically. "She's dead."

"Oh my god!" Beaudreaux gasped. Everyone in the room stopped for a moment.

The silence was broken, when the David's and Beaudreaux's radios cracked. "I couldn't get through to a 911 center, so I called the fire station directly," Arturo Gonzales' voice said on the loudspeaker. "They told me that the landlines work to some extent within town but the long distance lines are out."

"Are they able to offer any assistance?" David asked.

"They're pretty strained as the downtown is practically demolished. They're sending a paramedic unit from the hospital as soon as one comes available."

"Are you still by that phone?"

"Yeah."

"Try to call Two Whales. If you can get Joyce on the line, tell her that I'm ok.

"Sure. I'll let you know." The radio went silent.

David quickly assessed the student that the others had freed earlier. The girl who he didn't know was badly bruised and unconscious but breathing. He turned to the standing students. "You two," he said to two girls. "Continue digging the remaining trapped people out! You guys, help me to lift this beam off!" David addressed the two boys that he knew to be in the football team.

"Ok, you two take the sides, I lift from the end," David instructed the footballers. "On three! One, two, three, Lift!" The heavy beam rose a few inches. This enabled Beaudreaux to pull himself free.

"Clear!" Beaudreaux said and the others released their grip from the beam, which came crashing to the ground.

The girls had managed to release the remaining people, who were uninjured save for a few bruises. David gathered everyone to the opening.

"Earl, we're coming out!" David shouted to Hauser. "Ok, we're going one by one through the opening," he instructed the others. "The girls go first. You guys help to pull Beaudreaux and your unconscious classmate out," he said to the jocks.

The first girl crawled into the small opening and disappeared in the shallow passage. Hauser gave a mark, when she was through and the other girl followed. One by one they went through, until only David, Beaudreaux, the footballers and the unconscious student were left.

"Ok, you go in feet first and pull your classmate from the shoulders. We push from here," David instructed the other jock.

The footballer backed in and took a firm grip from his classmate's shoulders. He started pulling him as he backed. David pushed his feet as he advanced. Hauser gave another mark, when they were through.

"Ok, Matt, you're up," David said to his colleague.

The other jock took Beaudreaux into his grip and backed away. Hauser let David know that they were clear. David looked at Michelle Grant's body. He took a few steps towards her, when the ground started shaking again.

"David, you need to come out now!" Hauser shouted.

David cast a final glance at the dead principal and dashed into the opening. He made it barely through before the passage collapsed behind him. The shaking stopped a few moments later.

"Ok, everybody out!" he shouted. "Help the wounded!"

They rushed through the dust and debris and stepped into the outside air. David's radio cracked again. "Gonzales here. The Two Whales wasn't answering. Sorry, man."

"Ok, thanks for trying," David said. "What's the status over there?"

"I found Samuel. The dormitory is mostly intact. We found a handful of people. None are in a need of immediate medical attention."

"Ok, bring them over here. We're going to need all the help we can get."

David looked around him. The students had gathered at the courtyard. There were a considerable amount of injured people, some of which needed immediate medical attention. None of the faculty members had been at the campus area, save for Principal Grant and Julia Bennett. The first lay dead among the rubble and the second was missing. There was also still no sign of Chloe and Max. David took a few steps towards the parking area. He could see Chloe's F-150, but Max's Ranchero was missing. He walked back to the courtyard, where Kate Marsh had begun to set up a makeshift first aid point with Dana Ward and Trevor.

"Mr. Madsen, we managed to find some dressings and some pins for making casts," Kate said to him.

"Good job! Do you know how to make casts?" David asked her.

"I've taken a first-aid course and I've been a girl-scout. I should be able to make rudimentary casts," Kate answered.

"Alright. Get some extra hands and coordinate the tending of the injured until the paramedics arrive." David saw Gonzales arrive with Samuel and the students that they had found. He waved Gonzales and Hauser to him. "Arturo, take Samuel and check the whole campus area to see if there's anyone left. Earl, organize the people here and start taking names. I'll try to get to the main building and get the student lists. We need to know how many are accounted for."

Gonzales went with Samuel and Hauser and started gathering up the people into some kind of order. David walked towards the remnants of the main building. What he would've wanted to do was to jump in his Valiant and drive to the Two Whales to see if Joyce was all right. But since he was in charge of the rescue work it would have to wait at least until there wasn't an immediate danger to anyone.

_I'm sorry, Joyce, these people are relying on me._

* * *

"Y-you're Sara?" Max asked the older woman, who was standing next to the desk.

"Yes," the woman answered. "From the looks of you I can tell that Chloe has told you about me."

"She has."

"So you know who I am?"

"To some extent, yes."

"Your friend is asking in a very profane way what I'm doing here," Sara said to Max. "For the benefit of easier discourse, I'll temporarily grant you the same gift that your other friend seems to have," she said and made a small gesture with her had.

With a blink of an eye, Chloe, Janice and William became visible for the brunette.

"Chloe! Oh my god, are you-, or never mind," Max said and ran to partner to take her into her embrace but she just grasped thin air.

"Dude, still intangible," Chloe remarked. "But I'm glad you can see me too."

"Janice! William!" Max turned to look at the other spirits that were present.

"Now that everyone is accounted for, we have important matters to discuss," Sara said, breaking the reunion.

"If you're here to tell me how I fucked up the universe again with my powers, save your breath, I'm perfectly aware of that," Max said bashfully.

"Not exactly," the older woman remarked. "I and my kind have been following the timeline since the very beginning. It has been our duty to maintain it and make sure it stays intact. We can survey the different branches of time but we cannot direct it. Time will take its own course. Only if the timeline was in danger, were we allowed to intervene via the use of interdimensional assets, restless souls stuck in the world of the living. Chloe was one of these assets until she assisted you to eradicate four years of timeline."

"Would do it again in a heartbeat," Chloe interrupted her.

"Hush, Chloe!" Max said. "So if you can't intervene directly, why are you here then?"

"Let's just say that you are a special case, Maxine Caulfield."

"We are sorry, if we caused any chaos into the timeline. We really had no choice."

"There is no need to apologize," Sara said. "In fact we are grateful for you recklessness."

"You are?" both Max and Chloe asked.

"Thanks to your actions we were able to understand the whole phenomenon better," Sara explained. "We found the actual reason behind the phenomena and what they in reality were. Have you ever wondered why you didn't fast forward back the four years, when you focused on the butterfly picture again?"

"I have but I never came up with a plausible explanation."

"Think about the first time your powers emerged, when Chloe was shot. What did you do?"

"I-," Max's eyes went wide open, as she realized what Sara was after. "I went back to the classroom! I physically travelled back in time!"

"And that was what caused the tornado and the other phenomena the first time. We didn't realize it until you went back to save Chloe again and didn't return from focus. Even though you just focused on the picture and transferred only your psyche into that point, Nathan having shot you caused a stress reaction which caused you to actually travel back in time and staying at that point."

"Why didn't the tornado come back then?"

"That brings me to our second observation. The tornado that hit Arcadia Bay wasn't a random phenomenon created by your tampering with time. The exact same tornado hit the location where Arcadia Bay resides on August 14th, 1248."

"1248?" the brunette asked bemused. "You mean my time travel brought back a tornado from the past?"

"That is correct. The time travel caused a ripple in the space time continuum, which caused a random weather phenomenon from another point in history to occur in this time. It's this randomness, why it didn't return the second time. Instead it caused-"

"The earthquake…" Max whispered.

"The earthquake," Sara repeated, "which wasn't supposed happen until November 25th, 3978."

"What about the other phenomena, like the two moons or the whales or now the hailstorm?"

"They are the side effects of using your rewind power," Sara answered.

"So all my powers are only good for wreaking havoc," the brunette thought out loud.

"Not quite," the older woman smiled. "You are what we call a temporal anomaly, a potential threat to the timeline. These anomalies manifest themselves in different ways. The only common denominator is that they're all human. Normally, as I mentioned before, we've used the interdimensional assets to eliminate the threat by any means necessary. In your case, though, we learned something new, thanks to your friend here."

"What did you learn?"

"We still don't know why some people may become a temporal anomaly. All we know is that it's usually is triggered by a stressful situation. What we learned from your case was that in case of an anomaly occurring, timeline does its best to restore the balance."

"You mean…"

"If you think of time travel as yin, then the rewind and focus is yang. When the anomaly manifested itself, you were also given the power to make things right."

"So when I focused into the picture to undo my interference into Chloe's shooting, I restored the balance?" the brunette asked.

"Yes and no," Sara said. "You needed to return to the time, where the temporal anomaly occurred, but it wouldn't have made any difference whether you saved Chloe or not."

"What do you mean it wouldn't have made any difference?" Max furrowed.

"The tornado needed to happen, before you tried to undo it. If you would have undone the episode in the restroom earlier, the tornado would've still ravaged Arcadia Bay. When I talked about the other phenomena being the side effects of using your powers, it was because the tornado had not yet happened."

"Are you saying that after the tornado appeared I could've simply gone back and saved Chloe again and the tornado would've not come?"

"It's probably not something you want to hear after all you've been through, but yes."

"All those years I grieved for Chloe, when I could've been with her all the time…" Max felt a wave of anxiety wash over her like a tidal wave. She tried desperately to gasp for breath but her lungs felt like they had collapsed. The clenching feeling in her chest forced her to sit down and sway back and forth.

"Max! MAX!" Chloe knelt in front of the brunette, wishing that she could grab her from the shoulders. "Now is not the time for a meltdown!" she looked her straight in the eyes. "Sure, I'm hella devastated about this too but there's nothing we can do about it anymore. We acted on our best knowledge back then. Besides, we got that time back, when you focused again. I like to think we're wiser and stronger because of that. What happened, happened for a reason."

"But you're dead again. I-, I just don't know how I can bear to live without you anymore," Max said with teary eyes.

"Maybe you don't have to," the punk said.

"Chloe's right, Max," Sara confirmed. "When you traveled back and caused the new anomaly to occur, the timeline adapted to the situation and gave you your new powers as a countermeasure. You can restore Arcadia Bay and its people. You can make things right, Max."

"I c-can?"

"Yes, Max." the older woman took the brunette's hand into her own. "Let me show you."

When Sara touched Max, she gasped again, not from anxiety but from a flow of knowledge. The timeline with all of its possible branches visualized itself in the brunette's mind, like a giant Mandelbrot set with all of its stems constantly growing up. She could see and process thousands of different choices and possibilities and their outcomes simultaneously. She could feel the very essence of time at her fingertips. It was like a haze that she could stir. She knew. She understood.

"I- I can see it now," the brunette finally said. Her gaze was serene and calm.

"I've temporarily shared a fraction of my knowledge with you, to help you to realize the full potential of your powers," Sara explained. "But you must make haste as it won't last long."

"I understand," the brunette said.

"This is where we part ways, Maxine Caulfield," the older woman said. "I wish you the best of luck."

"Will we ever meet again?"

"I certainly hope not," Sara smiled and pulled Max closer. "These powers will always be with you, in one form or another. Bear that in mind and use them wisely," she said to the brunette so that only she could hear her.

"I will," Max promised.

"Farewell," the older woman said and faded out.

* * *

If someone would've told Chloe Price that she would see her father today, she would've punched that person straight in the face. She still couldn't grasp that William was standing just a few feet away from her. The only problem was that they were both dead.

"Hey, Muffin, it's been a while," William Price addressed his daughter.

"Hey, Daddy," Chloe answered. "I've missed you so much!" She extended her arms instinctively to an embrace and was surprised when she found that she didn't phase through her father, when he took her in his embrace.

"You look a bit different since the last time I saw you," William said.

"Yeah, I changed to a new shampoo," Chloe grinned.

"It's good to see you, William," Max said, joining the conversation.

"Maxine Caulfield, you have grown up to be a fine young woman," William complimented the best friend of his daughter.

"Uh, it's still just Max, William, and thank you," the brunette said. "You remember now who you are?"

"Well, yeah, as soon as I heard Chloe calling me, it all came back," Chloe's father explained. "Alas, now that I can remember who I am, it means that my time here is coming to an end."

"But we just found you!" Chloe protested. "Can't you stay just a little bit longer?"

"I wish I could, but unfortunately it's not up to me." William put his hands on her daughter's shoulder. "Besides, it's not your – or Janice's time yet. You need to go back."

Chloe pouted momentarily and let out a sigh. "Well, at least I get to say good bye to you." She let out a hint of smile."

"Uh, Chloe, about that," Max said slightly glumly. "If I resurrect you and Janice, I can't just rewind the wound. I have to rewind you completely. You may not remember anything after the moment you died."

"You're kidding me, right?" the punk looked at her partner in disbelief. "You're seriously not saying that I get to bid farewell to my father and I won't remember that it ever happened?"

"I'm so sorry, Chloe. I wish there was another way."

"Dad, can't you wait until Max resurrects me and say goodbye then?" Chloe pleaded.

"I wish I could, Muffin, but I'm stretching it as it is."

The bluenette sighed again. "Well, as long as you remember, Max." She turned to give a final hug to her father. "Good bye, Daddy. I love you so much! I'm sorry that I managed to f-, make such a mess out of my life."

"Good bye, Muffin. I love you too. I want you to know that I am proud of you. Not everyone can turn their life around the way you have in your situation. You'll be all right." William turned to face the brunette. "Max, take good care of my little girl, will you?"

"I promise, William," Max said, when she suddenly came up with an idea. "Hold on a second! I'd like to try something…"

* * *

Max stood and watched the body of her partner lying sluggishly on the ground. A little further away lay the body of Janice Smith wrapped in plastic. The brunette knew that the spirits of both girls were with her even though she could no longer see them. When William had made his departure, the girls' spirits had also become invisible to plain sight. Only Victoria was able to confirm that they were still with them.

Max knelt closer to Chloe's body. There was a bewildered expression on the punk's face. She had had no time to react to the icepick that was now sticking out from her right temple. A small trickle of blood had smudged the gray grease paint that was part of Chloe's Halloween costume. Her attire made her look like she had died years and not hours ago. The brunette removed the icepick carefully and placed her hands on the blunette's chest. _Please let this work!_ Max breathed out slowly and concentrated. She saw how the small puncture on Chloe's temple crept shut and the grease painted skin regained its reddish hue. Suddenly, the punk gasped for air and flinched. She looked around flabbergasted.

"Chloe, Chloe!" Max tried to calm her partner down. "It's all right, you're all right!"

"Max!" the punk exclaimed, when she recognized the hipster. "Wha-, Janice! Max, I found Janice!"

"Yes, I know, she's over there," Max said. "Can you remember what happened?"

"I- I found Janice but then it all went black. Julia must've knocked me out."

"Y- you can't remember anything else?" the brunette asked hopefully.

"I…" the punk strained, "No, sorry. Did I miss something?"

"I'll fill you in later," Max said, trying her best to hide her disappointment. "I'm just glad that you're okay." She pulled her partner into a tight embrace and kissed her deeply.

"Whoa, babe, you'd almost think I died," Chloe said, but then she saw her partner's expression. "I died, didn't I?"

The brunette just nodded.

"You had to resurrect me?" Another nod. "Are you sure it was wise? What about…" the punk stopped, when Max raised her hand.

"It doesn't matter anymore," the brunette said tiredly. "Will you help me with Janice?"

Max and Chloe opened the strings and unwrapped the dead girl's body. It had already begun to decompose. A single gunshot wound adorned the abdominal section.

"Janice," Max said into the open space. "I'm going to resurrect you now. You won't remember anything of the events after you were killed. As you requested, we're not going to tell you that Julia killed you, so you'll only remember the kidnapping and the photo shoots." The brunette waited for a brief moment, like she was waiting for a final confirmation, before she put her hands on the dead girl and concentrated.

"Haaahhh!" Janice Smith gasped and looked around flustered. "M-Max?"

"It's all right, Janice," the brunette tried to calm her friend down. "You're safe now." Max extended her arms. Janice burst immediately into tears when she enclosed herself into her friend's embrace.

When Janice had restored her composure to some extent, Max quickly briefed both girls on what had happened, leaving out their presence during the events. She would later tell Chloe the whole story. Janice was astounded when Max told her briefly about her abilities. Both Janice and Chloe were shocked when Max recapped what she had done to Julia.

"So you basically nullified tens of thousands of dollars' worth of plastic surgery and hormone therapy? Dude, that's badass!" Chloe remarked.

"Well, I also took almost twenty years off of him, so he should be well compensated," the brunette shrugged her shoulders. "But Joseph isn't our main concern now. There are more important matters at stake."

* * *

Victoria was beginning to feel worried about her right leg. It had been squeezed under the fallen box for some time. At first it had been painful, pretty soon it had gone numb and now it was at a point, where she no longer could feel her toes.

Victoria heard footsteps approaching and for a moment she thought that Joseph might have returned. She couldn't hide her relief, when she saw Max return, accompanied by Chloe and Janice.

"Max, Chloe, Janice! Are you guys…" the blonde asked, unsure whether the two girls were alive or dead.

"We're all right," Max confirmed. "Now let's get you lose."

Max and Chloe went on each side of the box and Janice positioned herself behind the blonde. "Okay, on three!" Max instructed. "One, two three!" The punk and the hipster lifted the box, while Janice pulled Victoria free.

"We're clear!" Janice said. The two girls let go of the box which came crashing to the ground.

"Let me look at you," Max said to the blonde as she knelt beside her. She couldn't hide her shock, when she looked at Victoria's legs. The left leg was merely bruised but the right leg had begun to turn blue from the knee down.

"That bad, huh?" Victoria asked, when she saw the brunette's expression.

"I don't know," Max said. "It may heal in time but time's a bit tight at the moment. Would you mind, if I…?"

"By all means," the blonde said. "I would very much like to be able to wear skirts in the future too."

"Oh, heaven forbid you not being able to wear skirts," Max grinned and placed her hands on Victoria's thigh. "This may feel a bit funny."

Victoria watched how the brunette concentrated and how, accompanied by a tingling feeling, the leg began to regain its original tone. She could feel the numbness go away and be able to wiggle her toes again. Moments later the leg was as good as new.

"Thank you, Max," the blonde said, when the brunette let her go. "For saving my life, and my leg."

"No, thank you," Max responded. "For helping us and for willing to put yourself at risk."

"Let's call it even."

"Ladies, I hate to break your mushy moment but if I understood correctly from what you have just told us back there, Max, there's a town to be saved," Chloe said with a serious tone.

"You're right, Chloe," Max agreed. "We need to get moving."

"I take that you have a plan?" the punk asked.

"I do," the brunette said as she helped Victoria up. "First we need to get to my car. Once we get there, I'll explain the rest."

The four girls made their way out of the damaged warehouse. The front yard was filled with rubble from the collapsed buildings. There was no sign of Julia's Tesla.

"Joseph has apparently bailed," Victoria noted.

"It would seem so," Max said. "We'll deal with him later.

They walked to the road leading away from the warehouse. The skyline of Arcadia Bay looked completely different from what it had looked only hours ago. The lighthouse and the clock tower of Blackwell Academy main building, which had been the landmarks of the town, had collapsed. Plumes of smoke rose from various points of town and only the scream of sirens broke the roar of burning buildings. Victoria cast a glance at the brunette, who watched the dismal sight with determination.

"Let's do this," Max said and took a step forward.

**To be continued...**


	12. The Touch

**November 1 – November 2, 2013**

The four girls stood before a deformed hulk of steel that once had been a 1979 Ford Ranchero.

"I hate to break it to you, Max, but your rust bucket isn't going to provide much in the means of transportation in its current shape," Victoria noted in the most non-provocative tone she could muster.

Max didn't say anything. She just stared at the heap of twisted metal and broken glass wistfully. In the other timeline, she'd had many memorable moments with that truck, including her first road trip to Big Sur and San Francisco. The truck certainly had had a mind of its own, refusing to start on quite a few occasions, when Max had needed to go somewhere, but not once had it failed to bring her back home. Max had been looking forward to relive some of those moments with Chloe but now it seemed impossible.

"Um, Chloe, any chance that you might be carrying smokes with you?" Max heard Victoria asking the punk. She knew that the blonde smoked occasionally, usually when partying, although she had mostly refrained herself from the habit, when they had been roommates in the other timeline.

"Lemme check," the punk said, going through her pockets. "I'm trying to quit but I still haven't got around to go through my jackets to get rid of all the packs. – Ah, jackpot!" She dug out a wrinkled, almost empty pack and passed it to Victoria, along with her Zippo that she always carried with her.

"I don't actively smoke either but I think a near death experience warrants one," the blonde said and lit up.

Chloe cast a quick glance at the brunette, whose eyes were still fixated on the car, before she shrugged her shoulders and picked a cigarette from the pack that Victoria had returned to her. "Aww, what the heck," she said, picking another cigarette from the pack, flicking a light into the Zippo against her thigh and lighting up.

The brunette walked right next to the wreck and placed her hands on it. She turned to face her partner. "Chloe, can you guess, what line would be appropriate at this moment?"

The punk cast a puzzled glance first at Max and then at the wreck, before her expression brightened in epiphany. "Ok, show us!"

Max closed her eyes and concentrated. For a few passing moments the wreck remained unchanged, before the screeching sound of twisting metal brought a satisfying smile on the brunette's face. She opened her eyes to see how the twisted metal slowly regained its original shape. Broken pieces came back together and merged with the rest of the truck. Moments later the Ranchero was back together again. Max didn't stop there but instead looked at the odometer and watched how the numbers rolled back. She saw how the numerous rust spots disappeared and the faded paint job began to gain its original shine. Only when the odometer showed tens of miles, Max relaxed and let go of the truck. She took a few steps back and admired the Ranchero, which looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line.

"Dude, that's hella awesome," Chloe said in awe. "The Maxmobile lives again!"

"Chloe, about that name…" the brunette said in an amicable tone. "Could we please name the truck to something else? I know you didn't like that I named it after you originally but I'd really prefer something else than 'Maxmobile'."

"Um, sure," the punk said.

"I'll think of a name at a better time but now it's time we hit the road," Max said. "Victoria, I hope the truck now meets your high standards."

"W-what?" the pixie-cut blonde snapped out of the trance-like state into which she had fallen, when she had watched the brunette to bring the truck back together. "Um, sure…" she just mumbled, when her brain had caught up.

Janice didn't say anything. She just stared at the shiny new truck in awe.

"Ok, the break is over," Max said to the two smoking girls. "Put those out and get in the truck!"

All four girls packed onto the couch seat of the truck. Max got behind the wheel, Chloe sat next to her in the middle and Janice ended up sitting on Victoria's lap on the passenger side. Max turned the key and the 302 Windsor small-block came to life. She began to maneuver the truck through the rubble back to the main road.

* * *

David Madsen was standing by the makeshift first-aid station and watched how Kate Marsh filled in the just arrived paramedics. None of the wounded were in a life-threatening state. Earl Hauser had conducted the headcount and everyone was accounted for with the exception of Julia Bennett, Maxine Caulfield and David's stepdaughter, Chloe, who wasn't in the official headcount. The total amount of casualties was fourteen, including the acting principal.

Earl walked to David. "Hey, Dave, I know you're worried sick about Joyce. We have things under control here if you want to go."

"You sure?" David asked frantically. He was subconsciously already taking steps towards his car.

"Go!" Hauser said.

David needed no more assurance. He ran towards his Valiant that was at the staff parking lot. The driver's door squealed as he pulled it open and got behind the wheel. The 318 cubic inch V8 of the 1971 Plymouth Valiant Scamp coughed itself to life and moments later David was accelerating towards downtown.

David gasped in horror as he saw the devastation on both sides of the road. Most of the houses had more or less collapsed and there were several fire pockets all around. Luckily, the road was mostly intact and unobstructed with the exception of people running here and there. David honked to get people out of the way and eventually he made it to the junction of Arcadia Bay Avenue, where he took a hard right. The main street of Arcadia Bay was completely surrounded by smoking piles of rubble. The remaining blocks to the Two Whales required a lot of manoeuvring as car wrecks and fire engines were all around the street.

Finally David saw the façade of the diner standing proudly in the midst of all the destruction. He almost let out a sigh of relief before he saw that the roof of the diner had collapsed. _Oh dear god, Joyce!_ David stopped the Valiant and stepped out. He ran the remaining yards to the remnants of the diner and opened the front door, which was still standing. He couldn't get past the vestibule as the collapsed roof structure blocked his way.

David turned around and ran to the side alley and back entrance of the Diner. This part of the building seemed to be in better shape than the dining section. He opened the door and stepped in. The storage room was a mess - the shelves had fallen over and their contents were all over the floor. David stumbled his way to the kitchen and found what he was looking for.

Joyce was lying on the floor next to the stove with an A/C unit on top of her upper torso. She wasn't moving or crying for help.

"Joyce!" David exclaimed and made his way to his wife. He took a firm grip of the heavy unit, lifted it and placed it on the stove before checking on the lying woman. Joyce was unconscious and covered in bruises. She didn't have a pulse and wasn't breathing. "Oh dear god, no!" David moved into a better position to give CPR. He placed his lips on his wife's and exhaled deeply into her mouth twice. The wheezing sound from Joyce's chest, when he exhaled, didn't sound too promising and his fears were confirmed, when he moved over to make compressions. The A/C unit had had broken Joyce's sternum and ribcage on impact and the broken ribs had punctured her lung. There was nothing he could do.

"No, no, no, no…" David repeated desperately. Tears began to flow down his cheeks. "Please, God no…" He took his deceased wife on his arms and walked outside. Like in a fog he walked past his car and towards the beach.

* * *

Max stopped the Ranchero at the parking lot of the beach. She left the engine running and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Ok, this is where I get off," she said to the remaining girls. "I want you to drive about ten miles north until you see no visual damage in the surroundings. That way you should be beyond the effect of the rewind."

"How can you know so sure?" Chloe asked as she slid behind the wheel.

"Trust me, I know," the brunette assured. " How much time do you need?"

"Ten miles?" Chloe chewed it over. "Fifteen minutes, twenty tops."

"All right, I'll wait twenty-five minutes before I begin," Max said. "I'll text you once I'm done."

"Ok. Good luck, babe," the punk leaned over to give a kiss to the brunette. "I love you."

"I love you too." Max pushed the truck door shut. She watched how the others drove off and cast a quick glance at her phone to make a note of the time. Once the truck was out of her sight, Max turned around and began walking up the path leading to the lighthouse.

As Max climbed the hill, she thought about Sara. Even though the older woman had told what she and apparently others of her kind do and she had expanded Max's cognition of time itself, she had not revealed what she was. All in all, what Max had experienced during the last month, in this timeline and the other, wasn't very easy to grasp. In addition to the time travel, she had become aware of the restless souls stuck in the world of the living. Even though Max was Catholic, she considered herself rather secular and hadn't really given much thought to the afterlife. Had she not experienced it first hand, she would've thought the whole concept incredible. What was even more amazing was how these concepts seemed to be intertwined with each other. _And I thought life was strange._

Max reached the hilltop and the lighthouse, what was left of it anyway. Most of the tower was now lying in the ocean at the bottom of the cliff. Only a small stub and the ruins of a cabin remained of what was once the most famous landmark of Arcadia Bay. She stared at the ruins briefly, before she dug out her camera and took a picture of it. She wanted the picture to be a constant reminder of what could happen if she didn't use her powers responsibly.

Max put the picture in the bag with the camera and picked up her mobile phone. It had been almost twenty minutes since her friends had dropped her off at the beach. She knew exactly what she had to do and how she had to do it. What she didn't know was whether she would survive it. That was one of the reasons she had sent the other girls away. Max knew that Chloe wouldn't let her to put her life in jeopardy in order to save the town. _Let's hope it won't come to that._

The brunette went down on her knees and felt the ground with her hands. She could feel the very essence of time in every grain of sand. The sensation was almost overwhelming. She cast another glance at her phone. _It is time…_

* * *

One step after another, David carried his dead wife on his arms towards the lighthouse. He knew exactly what he would do, once he'd reach the cliff top. With Joyce dead, he didn't really have any reason to carry on living. There was Chloe but she'd probably just despise him about failing to protect her mother, taken that his stepdaughter was even alive. That final step over the edge would relieve him from the pain and enable him to reunite with his wife.

"I'm sorry, Joyce," David addressed the dead body. "I failed you and Chloe." Tears were running down on his cheeks as he stepped forward. He was now on the pathway to the top of the hill, where the lighthouse, or what was left of it, stood. He stepped out of the forest to the clearing around the ruins of the lighthouse and stopped, when he saw a small brunette on her knees next to the ruins. "Max?"

The brunette didn't seem to notice him. She was there with her eyes closed and her palms resting on the ground. All of a sudden David felt the ground trembling under his feet. Everything around him was in motion. Only thing was that the motion was strangely jerking, like everything was moving backwards. This however didn't prepare him for the sight of the lighthouse tower pulling itself back from the bottom of the cliff and settling firmly into its original place.

David turned around to see how the clock tower of Blackwell rose from the ground and pulled itself back together. He could also see how the dust and fire waned at the town centre and the collapsed buildings returned to their original shape. He turned around again to see the final tiles of the lighthouse floating in thin air towards the roof of the tower, when they suddenly stopped and fell back down to the ground. Then, nothing. No trembling, no collapsing, just silence.

"David." The silence was broken all of a sudden. David almost dropped Joyce to the ground, when he realized that she was alive and well on his arms, looking at him bemusedly. "What happened? How did we end up at the lighthouse and how come I'm on your arms? Not that I'm complaining though."

"You-, you passed out and I carried you here," David said equally bemused. "Can you remember what happened?"

"I-, I remember that there was an earthquake but after that it's just dark," Joyce said, trying to strain to remember to no avail. "But why'd you carry me all the way up here?"

"I-," David begun, trying to come up with a plausible explanation. "When I found you, I saw Max heading up here and I decided to follow to make sure she's al-," he stopped at mid-sentence, when he saw that the small brunette was lying unconscious on the ground. "Oh, god, Max!"

"Put me down and let's go help her," Joyce commanded.

David complied and they both took running steps towards the unconscious girl. David turned the brunette around to see that the section between her nostrils and upper lip was smeared in blood.

"Good heavens!" Joyce exclaimed. "Is she all right? What was she doing up here all alone?"

"I don't know," David lied as he was pretty sure that the unconscious brunette was the reason why Arcadia Bay was almost restored back to its former glory. He felt Max's neck with his fingers and was able to find a weak pulse. The slow rising of her chest told David that she was also breathing.

"Should we call an ambulance?" Joyce asked.

"No, other than the nosebleed I think she's in no danger," David assured his wife. "But I think we should call someone else."

* * *

Chloe, Victoria and Janice were parked at a lay-by. Chloe was sitting on the hood of the Ranchero and smoking anxiously. Also Victoria had lit up and she was pacing back and forth. Janice was leaning against the truck and following the two other girls.

"You guys think Max has already done whatever she needs to do?" Janice finally broke the silence.

"I'm not sure," Chloe said and exhaled a cloud of smoke through her mouth. "Max said she would let us know once everything is restored." She looked at her mobile phone. There was service but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Just as Max has said, beyond ten miles, everything seemed to be pretty much undamaged. It had not occurred to the punk to check her phone right when they had arrived, so she couldn't tell whether or not the mobile service had been available originally. Suddenly the phone started ringing with 'Step-dork' on the caller ID. _Hmm, probably should change that caller ID,_ Chloe thought as she pressed the answer key.

"What is it?" Chloe answered in her typical way.

"Chloe, where are you?" David asked in the other end.

"We're about ten miles north from Arcadia Bay," the punk answered.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, we're good," Chloe answered slightly impatiently. "Why are you asking?"

"It's Max. Joyce and I found her unconscious by the lighthouse," David explained.

"Is she…" Chloe's aggravation turned into concern in a heartbeat.

"I think she's all right save for a nosebleed. She's just passed out," David assured. "You'd probably want to be here, when she wakes up."

"We're on our way," Chloe said and ended the call. "Okay, ladies! We're going back!"

* * *

Darkness, slowly turning a few shades lighter...

Ambient noise, slowly turning into chatter and then into distinguishable words…

It was still dark but the voices were familiar. Max realized her eyes were shut, so she fluttered them open. She realized that she was lying on the bench by the lighthouse and that she was surrounded by people.

"Max, you're awake!" one of them, sporting a blue hair and beanie exclaimed leaned over her.

"C-Chloe?" the brunette asked groggily. "Is…"

"Yes," Chloe smiled soothingly. "Arcadia Bay is surviving a mild earthquake that made a few tiles drop from the roofs but nothing worse."

"Oh, that's a relief," the brunette sighed.

"How are you doing?" the bluenette asked. "You were passed out for some time, not to mention your nose."

"I'll live," Max said tiredly. She felt so exhausted that she could have just slept for the rest of the semester.

"You did it, babe," Chloe whispered. "You saved this town. Again. I'm so proud of you."

"You sure know how to make a girl feel better," the brunette smiled. "C'mere." She pulled the punk closer so that she could kiss her. She let her tongue savour those succulent lips.

"Whoa, Max," Chloe withdrew an inch. "We have audience here."

"I don't care anymore," Max said, not letting the punk go. "You're here, that's all that matters."

* * *

David stood a little further with Joyce and watched the two girls kissing each other.

"I hope that's not going to be an issue with you," Joyce said to her husband.

"Truth be told, I couldn't think of a better partner for Chloe," David said, smiling.

David knew that he had Max to thank for saving his wife and restoring the town. He couldn't quite comprehend what had happened but he had noticed that Joyce seemed to remember only a fraction of it. He'd put his money on that the girls knew the whole truth, though. He could only assume that the rest of the town was as oblivious as Joyce was and maybe that was for the best.

David looked again at Max and when he managed to get an eye contact with the brunette, he smiled and nodded discreetly. He saw Max lifting her eyebrows momentarily but then smiling back. David didn't know how the brunette had acquired such powers or what else she was capable of but he knew that he would keep her secret until the end of his days.

"I probably should head back to the school to see if everything's ok in there," David said to Joyce. "I'm practically AWOL."

"Yeah, I should probably head back to the diner too," Joyce agreed.

"Hey, we should probably have a quick sit-down at the Two Whales and set our stories straight before I return to the school," David said to the girls.

"Sure, we'll be right behind you," Chloe said to him.

* * *

Max watched how the couple headed down the path towards the beach. She thought about how David had looked at her, as if he had known what had happened. If David in fact had not been affected by the rewind, Max certainly couldn't come up with a plausible reason to it. The whole process of restoring the town and its people had required her full attention; therefore she had not noticed when David and Joyce had arrived.

Max looked at her hands. She didn't have to try to use her powers to know that she no longer had them. Being so closely connected to time itself had felt bizarre. When she had touched the ground, she could feel the timeline of every single being and object within a certain radius. It had been almost ridiculously easy to determine how far the damage extended. That way she had been able to limit the rewind only to that area.

When Max had begun rewinding, she could feel how even the tiniest of fragments travelled back on their respective timeline through her fingertips. She had seen in her mind how the town had been restored little by little reaching almost the point before the earthquake had started. At that point the brunette had passed out. To say that the process was painful would've been a huge understatement. Through the whole ordeal, her head had felt like it would explode any moment and it had required all her willpower to keep her thoughts together. Max didn't know whether Sara had enhanced her powers or just helped her to understand the full potential of them. Either way, without Sara's help, Max wouldn't have been able to save the town.

Initially, Max had intended to restore the town fully but in retrospective, it was a serendipity that she had passed out when she had. This way the people of Arcadia Bay would remember the earthquake having happened, although a lot milder that it in reality had been.

Max thought about what Sara had said to her before her departure. The older woman had told her that the time manipulation powers would always be with her in some form. That made her both curious and worried. Did it mean that the powers would come and go as they pleased and she had no control over them or did it mean that the powers would be there when she needed them the most?

The brunette looked at Chloe who was still sitting with her. She felt heartbroken for her blue-haired lover. By an incredible chance, Chloe had been able to see her dead father once more and properly say goodbye to him but Max had taken that away from her in order to bring her back to life. It really didn't offer much consolation that she had done so with Chloe's consent. Anyway, it was a discussion that would take place at a later moment.

Max cast a glance at the edge of the cliff and saw a familiar character standing there. She placed one more kiss on her partner's lips and stood up. Chloe stood up also but the brunette raised her arm.

"I need a moment," she said to the punk.

"Sure, babe," Chloe smiled to her. The bluenette put her hand into her jacket pocket but stopped to contemplate something before she removed the hand without taking anything out and instead put her other hand into the other pocket and picked up a pack of nicotine gums.

Max gave her a thumbs up and walked to the edge of the cliff, where imaginary Victoria was standing.

"I was wondering if I would see you anymore," she said to the pixie blonde.

"Oh I wouldn't dream of leaving without saying goodbye," Victoria chuckled. "But alas you're right. My job here is done."

"Do you mean I'm no longer a basket case?"

"Well, no, but you no longer need me to tell that to you."

"Yeah, I realize that I need to discuss my issues with a professional," Max admitted.

"My real-life counterpart should be able to hook you up with someone," the imaginary Victoria said, glancing at the blonde that talked with Janice further away. "What do you think, do I stand any chance at Janice?"

"Well, I don't know which way she sways but otherwise, if she can see the Victoria I know, I'd say you'll stand a pretty good chance," the brunette smiled.

"At least you found me, again."

"Yeah, I suppose I did." Max looked at the imaginary blonde wistfully. "I suppose this is goodbye then."

"I suppose it is."

"Thank you for being such a good friend," Max said. "I'd hug you, but…"

"Hah, you're welcome, Max. Take care now," Victoria said before she faded away.

"I will." Max gazed into the distance.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Chloe put her hand on the brunette's shoulder.

"I am." Max turned to face the bluenette and took her hand.

"What are we going to do about Ju-, Joseph?" Chloe asked as they walked to Janice and Victoria.

"I don't know," the brunette contemplated about the issue. "Besides you and me, only Victoria knows that Julia is Joseph again. As far as Janice and the rest of the world is concerned, it was Julia Bennett who kidnapped her and Victoria. Julia will be warranted and she will never be found. Joseph… he has no recollection of the whole event. He's practically travelled about 15 years into the future."

"That's going to be a hella lot to digest," Chloe commented.

"It is," Max agreed. "I just hope I rewound far enough, so that whatever is to become of him, it will be on his own terms and not determined by Jefferson's rejection."

"Well, he's gonna be hella busy trying to restore his identity," Chloe chuckled. "Especially, when I snatched his emergency fund." She flashed the money envelope.

"So what are you planning to do with your newfound wealth?" the brunette asked.

"Oh, I dunno," Chloe grinned. "I'll probably use part of my half to buy a new car."

"Your half?"

"Well, you're getting the other half, of course."

Max's jaw dropped an inch. "I-, I c-couldn't possibly…"

"Yes you can, Max." Chloe stopped, took the brunette in a firm grip and looked her straight in the eye. "You've hella earned it. More than anyone. I'd give you the whole sum but I know you wouldn't accept it, so I'm keeping half."

"But still, half of how much did you say it was?"

"Fifty k, babe," the punk smiled. "We've both paid our dues. This is our chance to start with a clean slate."

Max looked at her lover, contemplating the idea for a moment, then she grinned and reached to kiss the bluenette. "A new car, eh?"

"Yeah, I've gotten kinda bored with the truck, so I was thinking of getting something sportier…"

* * *

The earthquake of Arcadia Bay on Halloween 2013 would be the source of debate among scientists and conspiracy theorists long into the future. All the seismographic stations in the Pacific Northwest region had measured the magnitude of the earthquake to be 7.9. All except one, the one located in Arcadia Bay that had measured the magnitude to be 4.8. What was even more peculiar was that the other stations had measured the duration of the earthquake to be three times longer than it had been measured at the Arcadia Bay seismographic station. Also, according to the data gathered from the Arcadia Bay station indicated that the earthquake had ended abruptly whereas the other stations indicated that the shaking had wound down slowly. The most controversial thing was that the Arcadia Bay data indicated absolutely no aftershock contrary to the data gathered from the other stations. The witness statements from the residents of Arcadia Bay, as well as the minimal visual damage to the area supported the data gathered from the local station.

What seemed to be the main source of various conspiracy theories was the fact that all the clocks in Arcadia Bay that didn't synchronize to an outside source, were about two and a half hours behind the Pacific Standard Time. Also, none of the interviewed residents seemed to have no recollection of the same two and a half hour period right after the earthquake had ended.

Another hot topic was the resolution of the Janice Smith kidnapping. It had turned out that the co-founder and primary photographer of the La Vida Magazine, Julia Bennett, was behind the kidnapping of Janice Smith, as well as the kidnapping of Victoria Chase, a student at the Blackwell Academy, where Ms. Bennett was a substitute photography teacher. A federal warrant for her arrest had been issued but for the time being she had not been apprehended and the trail was getting cold.

While the fact that Julia Bennett was a transsexual woman wasn't exactly a secret, her background wasn't very well known. Her former identity became public knowledge though as the findings of a search performed into Julia Bennett's home by the SPD was leaked to the press. This was backed up by the results of an investigation performed privately by the Blackwell Academy head of security, David Madsen. This information was also leaked to the press by an unknown source at the ABPD.

The fact that Joseph Adams was a former assistant to Mark Jefferson, who had been the photography teacher at Blackwell and arrested only weeks earlier suspected of sexual abuse of several female students of Blackwell and involvement in the death of one student, was enough to raise speculation whether they had been working together from the beginning. No evidence could be found to back up this claim and the general consensus seemed to be that Julia Bennett was Mark Jefferson's first victim and the trauma caused by the experience caused her to become the copycat of Jefferson.

In any case, the small Oregon coastal town of Arcadia Bay would be getting a lot of media attention in the upcoming weeks. The events would draw geologists, conspiracy theorists and other people from all over the nation to explore the scenes of events. That would give a much needed boost to the town's economy.

Max Caulfield couldn't be less interested about all that when she sat in the Principal's office. The school board had had an emergency meeting in the morning regarding the kidnapping and as a result of that, the brunette was now sitting in front of Michelle Grant's desk.

"In the light of last night's events and the new evidence presented by the Blackwell head of security, the Blackwell Academy board has come to a decision about your case, Ms. Caulfield," Mrs. Grant said in a serious tone. "You can continue your studies here at Blackwell with your scholarship and your suspension will be lifted, effective immediately."

Max's expression lightened momentarily as she heard the decision but went back to deadpan, when the acting principal watched her sternly. "This decision is probationary, however. You need to be absolutely on your best behaviour for the rest of your studies. One strike and you're out, do you understand?"

"Yes, Mrs. Grant," Max did her best to maintain the deadpan expression.

"In the future, if you have any suspicions about the Blackwell staff, I trust that you issue your concerns through the proper channels."

"I will, Mrs. Grant," the brunette promised.

"Off the record, I'm glad that you don't have to leave, Max," Michelle Grant finally allowed herself to smile.

"I'm glad that I can stay here too," Max said. "Hopefully, things will be more normal from now on."

"Amen to that!" Michelle Grant concurred. "I'm not going to keep you from enjoying your weekend any longer. See you on Monday."

"Looking forward to that." The brunette exited the Principal's office.

Having returned to her dorm room and settled down, Max heard someone knocking on her door. She walked to the door and took one of the crutches in her hand before opening it. When she saw Victoria standing behind the door, she immediately placed the crutch back against the wall and let the blonde in.

"So how did it go with Mrs. Grant?" Victoria asked.

"Apparently I'm still a student at Blackwell, although on probation until the graduation," the brunette answered.

"From a shy geek to a badass. Not a bad ascension in ranks," the blonde chuckled, making Max roll her eyes.

"Where's Janice? Did she leave already?"

"I dropped her off at the Arcadia Bay Police Station. They're taking her statement and arrange her return to Seattle," Victoria explained. "We had a long talk yesterday, when we got back. We discussed about your rewind power. She's about as amazed about it as I am, but she promised to keep it a secret."

"What about your ability?"

Victoria sighed. "I wanted to tell her. I just began to think that if I told her I could communicate with the dead in addition to your time rewinding, she'd do the math about her own case. Since she specifically didn't want to be aware of having been dead and then resurrected, I decided not to tell her about my 'gift'." She frowned and rubbed her temple. "I should've told her like you told Chloe. I fear that this is going to backfire at some point."

"Let's hope that it doesn't come to that." Max put her hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Max," Victoria turned to face the brunette and took her hands. "I want to thank you and Chloe for risking your lives to save me and Janice. I'm also sorry about how I've treated you in the past. I've been reflecting upon myself during the past month and come to a conclusion that I want to be something else than I have been, something better."

"You are one of the most gifted and talented persons I know," the brunette assured. "I've found that you are also compassionate and would go the extra mile for those that you care for. If someone cannot accept you as who you truly are, then that someone doesn't deserve you."

"Thank you, Max. I really appreciate those words."

"You're welcome, Victoria."

"Please, call me Vic."

* * *

David Madsen sat in his office chair and looked at the application to the Oregon Public Safety Academy. His mind drifted back to yesterday's events, trying to get a grasp at everything that had gone down. He had been relieved to find Michelle Grant alive and well, when he had returned to the school, even though the principal had reprimanded him for leaving his post during an earthquake. She had forgotten about it though, when David had shown her the evidence about Julia Bennett and told the story he had worked up with the girls at the two whales.

His stepdaughter and Max Caulfield had come to him, when they had seen Bennett capturing Victoria Chase. The three had followed Bennett to the warehouse and discovered Ms. Chase and another girl that had turned out to be Janice Smith, who had been reported missing earlier. Additionally, they had discovered Bennett's laptop that contained incriminating material. Julia Bennett had not been present at the time and they had assumed she had fled the scene. David had been helping the girls out, when the earthquake had occurred. He'd dropped the girls at two whales and hurried to the school.

Of course, in reality, David had been nowhere near the warehouse. The recap of events at the warehouse was completely based on what Max, Chloe and Victoria had told him. He was pretty confident that some of the details wouldn't stand the light of day, if tested. Luckily, the evidence was solid enough by itself.

If something good came out of all this, in addition to saving the girls and the lifting of Max's suspension, it was the confidence that he had what it takes to do police work. David put the filled application into an envelope and closed it. He'd already put on a stamp and written the delivery address. He would put it in the outgoing mail, when he would do his next round.

David took a sip from his coffee and turned on the TV. The news station was covering the Janice Smith kidnapping. The insert was showing Julia Bennett's Tesla having been apprehended and a young man in his early twenties being escorted into the police station. David turned the volume up.

"… _Julia Bennett, the world-known photographer and the co-founder of the La Vida magazine, who is the main suspect in the Janice Smith kidnapping, is still on the run. Bennett's car was identified and pulled over by a Highway Patrol unit_ _, south-west of Sheridan_ _. The car had been driven by a 20-year old man, who is suspected of grand theft auto. There was no sign of Julia Bennett, when the car was pulled over…"_ David turned the TV back off and stood up. It was time for the afternoon round. He took the envelope and walked outside, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Joseph Adams was sitting on the bench of a custody cell at a police station in Sheridan, trying to grasp how he had ended in this situation. The last thing he could remember was that he had been studying in his dorm room in Seattle. All of a sudden, when he had come to, he was in a derelict warehouse, wearing women's clothing, with a chestnut haired girl, who had been holding his arm. A sudden earthquake had provided enough distraction so that he had been able to get out.

Joseph had discovered the keys to the car that had stood outside, so he had taken it and driven away. He didn't know where he was but the display on the car's screen had told that the ruined town was Arcadia Bay. He had taken the 101 north and then the 18 towards Portland. He'd managed to snatch a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt from a clothesline at a roadside house, whose residents happened to be away. He'd continued driving towards Portland, when he had been pulled over by a Highway Patrol unit just outside Sheridan and immediately been arrested. Apparently he had been driving a car that belonged to a woman who was wanted for kidnapping.

Joseph had been charged for grand theft auto. When he had told his name and social security number, he had been also charged for identity theft and obstruction of justice. He had used his one phone call to try to call Mark Jefferson, to whom he had just begun his internship. His boss had not answered though. Joseph had been booked in as John Doe.

As if all of this had not been enough to digest, Joseph found out that in addition to ending up in some Hooville in Oregon, he had also traveled thirteen years into the future. Instead of August 2000, it was November 2013.

Joseph pressed his face against his palms, trying to keep it together and not to pay attention to the two lowlifes who were sitting on the opposite bench and glancing at him furtively.

* * *

"I still can't believe that you went and rewound away the CD-player with an iPhone connector that I installed in your car," Max heard Chloe complaining from the passenger's seat, when she drove towards the beach. "I don't even know what this thing is called." She pointed at the device that was currently playing 'The Long Run' by Eagles.

"It's an 8-track player, Chloe," the brunette chuckled. "I looked it up. It takes these tape modules that play on a constant loop, so you don't have to turn the tape. I kinda like it."

"Well, you like anything that predates this Millennium," the punk groaned. "I got a sweet deal on that CD player and it wasn't even hot, or at least I'm pretty confident it wasn't hot."

"I wonder if you can still get tapes for those?"

"I bet these are even rarer than Betamax tapes," Chloe snorted. "And even if you can find tapes, how are you going to get music on them, or are you just going to listen to stuff that your folks were barely old enough to listen?"

Max rolled her eyes as she parked the Ranchero at the beach parking lot. "You're incorrigible, you know that?"

"Just because you find it irresistible," the punk grinned.

"Touché," the hipster smiled back.

The girls stepped out of the truck. Max took her camera bag with her. They climbed the path to the lighthouse in silence, holding hands. The old tower bathed in the late autumn sun, showing the littlest of details on the brick wall. Max lead Chloe to the bench and they both sat down.

"So, what's the thing you wanted to talk about?" Chloe asked, after they had sat a moment in silence.

Max didn't say anything but instead dug out a Polaroid picture from her camera bag and gave it to Chloe. The punk took the picture with a puzzled look on her face and took a look at it. Her expression froze for several seconds, before she slowly lifted her gaze from the picture.

"Is this some kind of a Photoshop?" Chloe asked frowning one of her brows slightly. The picture was of her standing next to her father.

"No," Max answered. "When I resurrected you and filled you in, I didn't tell you one detail because it wasn't a good moment." The brunette left out a deep sigh before she continued. "You and Janice weren't the only ones dead in that warehouse. William was there too."

"Dad? How's that possible?" The punk took another look at the picture, not being able to hide her amazement.

"Apparently he's been roaming the streets of Arcadia Bay ever since the accident, not remembering who he is," Max explained. "That's why he hasn't been able to cross over. He somehow managed to get in contact with Victoria and she tried to help him to remember who he is."

"When I was dead, did I…"

"Yes, you saw him and were able to say goodbye to him," Max said wistfully. "Chloe, I'm so sorry that I had to take that away from you."

Chloe looked at her partner a moment, before she put her hand gently on her shoulder. "I know you wouldn't have done it without my consent and I suppose you didn't have much of a choice."

"I know," Max admitted. "I still feel terrible about it, though."

"But what about the picture? How's this possible?" Chloe asked.

"Sara," the brunette answered. "She somehow made it possible for me to see you, William and Janice. When William was about to cross over, I thought I'd try to take a picture of you two. I knew it was a longshot but apparently it worked."

"Max, this is h-hella amazeballs," Chloe said, tears falling down from her cheeks. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome." Max cupped her lover's cheeks with her hands and wiped the tears away with her thumbs.

"You know," the bluenette said, her voice trembling a bit. "Even though having to come to terms with the 'other' Chloe in my head hasn't been exactly a joyride, she gave me something for which I am forever grateful to her, and to you." She smiled at her partner. "She gave me five more years with my dad."

It took a moment for Max before the words sunk in. Something good had come out of her ill-fated attempt to change the course of history after all. The thought that Chloe was now able to cherish the alternative Chloe's memories of her father made the brunette glow.

"The photo is not the only thing I have for you," Max said digging something else from her bag. "To my recollection, I owe you a pair of suspenders."

"Max, you know I was joking, when I said that," Chloe chuckled as she accepted the brand new pair. "What's this thing binding them together…" she said as she tried to straighten them.

"Oh," the punk just let out, when she saw what it was.

"That is the O'Gamhnain," Max explained. "It has been the Caulfield family heirloom for centuries, passed from the mother to the eldest son to be used as an engagement ring. My dad had already married my mom, when he got it so he gave it to me."

The punk's heart skipped a beat, when the brunette knelt down before her and took her hand.

"We've been years apart and ever since our reunion, we've had a pretty rough ride but despite of it or maybe because of it I know that I love you more than anything and I want to bring you happiness for the rest of my life." Max took a deep breath. "Chloe Elizabeth Price, will you be my captain, my partner in crime and my everlasting chalet of fortitude and dare?"

Tears started building in the bluenette's eyes again. "I-, before I answer, I have something for you too." She dug out a ring from her pocket and knelt down beside the brunette.

"I went a bit crazy with the money that we found and made a trip to Portland this morning. I bought this from a jewellery shop." The ring was made of white gold with a single sapphire on it.

"It's beautiful," was all that Max could say as she stared the ring eyes wide open.

Chloe closed her eyes momentarily. "Ugh, I so suck at this mushy shit but here goes. Ever since you returned and what we've been through, I've come to realize that I can turn my life around and make whatever I want of it. I've also come to realize that I want you to be a significant part of my life and I want to be part of yours. - Maxine Siobhán Caulfield, will you be my first mate, my partner in time and my well of wisdom and enlightenment?"

"So, what say we?" Max asked, smiling.

"YES!" both girls exclaimed in unison.

They hastily put the rings onto each other's ring finger, before they stood up and their lips met. Max felt that there was something special in that kiss, like it was their seal of commitment and devotion to each other. Nothing could've felt more right than this feeling at this moment. Whatever happened afterwards, this moment could not be taken away from them. Even the wedding, although a memorable and happy moment in its own accord, would be a formality. This moment, by the lighthouse, would be the one Max would cherish until the end of her days.

"Soo, any ideas about the big day?" Chloe asked, when they finally let go of each other. "Next summer, after graduation, perhaps?"

"Actually, I was thinking that I'd invite you to Seattle for Thanksgiving, and we'd make a quick detour to Vancouver before that," Max grinned impishly.

"Eloping?" the punk's expression brightened. "Oo, I like the sound of that."

"I happen to know for a fact that the same sex marriage will be recognized in Oregon next spring and that you can already get married in the Washington state. I just thought it might be fun to go abroad to do it."

"Canada, how exotic," Chloe snorted. "Mom is going to be hella pissed, though, if she doesn't get to my wedding."

"Yeah mine probably too, after she's gotten over the fact that her daughter is gay," Max said. "We could have a family celebration in Arcadia Bay around the time of our graduation, how's that sound?"

"Sounds cool," Chloe commented and smiled. "I'm actually going to graduate from high school, who would've thought."

"I'm so happy for you." Max put her hands on the bluenette's shoulder. She knew how much getting her GED meant to her partner.

"So is it just going to be the two of us or will we have someone to witness our happy moment?"

"I was thinking that I'd ask Kate to be my maid of honor," the brunette said. "You gonna ask someone to be yours?"

"Yeah but not as my maid of honor but as my best man," Chloe grinned.

"Does this mean you're gonna be the man in this relationship?" Max asked teasingly.

"Well, obviously since you own in the cuteness sector."

The brunette blushed slightly at the remark. "You have someone in mind, then?"

"Yeah, I think I do," Chloe grinned knowingly.

Max put her arm around Chloe's waist and watched the blue ocean. "You know, when I returned here I never would've thought that three months later I'd be married to my best friend."

"Me neither," the punk concurred.

"Life can work out in strange ways."

"Hella strange."


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artwork credits in this chapter go to Mai Queti.

** **

**Arcadia Bay, OR, November 5, 2013**

Max had thought about getting a tattoo when she'd get to Arcadia Bay but this wasn't exactly what she had had in mind. She was sitting on an operating table at a tattoo parlor, bare legged with only her panties covering her modesty. A fresh scarification that resembled the surgical wound from removing the bullet, now adorned her left thigh. The fresh wound stung like hell as Randall Myles, the owner of the tattoo parlor applied disinfecting lotion on it and wrapped it up.

"Change the bandage and apply this lotion daily until the wound is properly scabbed," Randall instructed the brunette. "You can get dressed."

Max pulled her pants on carefully and cast a glance at her fiancée who was sitting on a chair by the wall. When she had restored her leg, the scarring wound from the gunshot and the operation had ceased to exist. Having an immaculate thigh after such an operation would've raised too many questions, so the brunette had really no choice than to recreate the scar.

When Chloe had first told Max that an acquaintance of hers had a tattoo parlor, she had thought that the scar would simply be tattooed on her thigh. She had almost called the whole thing off, when Randall had explained that it would be an actual scar that would be branded on the skin. After a lot of persuasion from Chloe and a promise that a local anesthetic would make the operation almost painless, the brunette had grudgingly agreed to have the branding done.

The actual operation had not taken too long as a scar resembling a surgical wound was pretty easy to make and true to the word, it had been almost painless. It didn't hurt either that Chloe had held Max's hand through the whole ordeal.

Max stood up and cringed from the pain as she put weight on the legs. Chloe stood up immediately to assist her. "I've got you, babe," the punk said assuredly.

"Walking might be a bit hard for a few days," Randall noted. "You might want to get a pair of crutches to help you get around."

"Crutches, check," Max smiled shortly. "How much do I owe you?"

"It's on the house," Randall said smiling. "You're my first scarification. I've been itching to get to try the equipment since I got 'em. Besides, I owe a favor to Chloe."

"You can call it even," Chloe said. "I'd appreciate if this would stay between us."

"Naturally," the tattoo artist assured. "Call me, if you need any ink done."

"Sure thing," the punk said as she escorted her fiancée out of the parlor.

"It's a good thing I still have the prescription pain killers left from the surgery," Max grunted as Chloe helped her on the driver's seat of the Ranchero.

"My brave girl," the punk cheered her up. "I've been thinking about getting a scar every now and then but having seen it done I'm not so sure anymore."

"It's definitely not something I'd recommend getting on a whim," the brunette said and grunted again, when she took a better position behind the wheel. "I'm going to need a hella lot of pampering and cuddling tonight."

"Oh, I think we can arrange that," Chloe grinned.

* * *

**Arcadia Bay, OR, November 6, 2013**

**Victoria Chase has changed her display name from 'QnB' to 'Victoria'.**

* * *

**Arcadia Bay, OR, November 8, 2013**

_Dear Ms. Caulfield,_

_Words are not enough to express our gratitude towards you for saving the life of our daughter, Victoria._

_Our daughter means everything to us and not all the money in the world would be enough to repay you for knowing that our daughter is safe. Victoria has told us that you are a talented photographer and, as a small token of our appreciation, we would like to exhibit your work at the Chase Space on at a time of your convenience. Please be in contact with us so we can work on the details._

_Thank you!_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Annabeth and Derek Chase_

* * *

**Seattle, WA, November 8, 2013**

John Korhonen closed the Janice Smith case file and put it in a drawer. He'd just finished doing the paperwork for the case. Ms. Smith had been here first thing on Monday, after she had returned from Arcadia Bay to give her statement. It didn't differ much from the one that she had already given to the ABPD, of which Korhonen and Kowalski had got a copy.

Julia Bennett was still on the run. The Sheridan PD had not got much out of the kid who had been caught driving Bennett's Tesla and who had claimed to be Bennett's pre-transition ego. Apparently the kid bore some likeness to Joseph Adams but obviously couldn't be him as he was over ten years younger and all the man parts intact.

Finn looked at his partner, who was still piqued that some hillbilly security guard had managed to figure out the connection between Julia Bennett and Mark Jefferson before her. Finn smiled to himself. _She's young. She still has a thing or two to learn about police work._

"Hey, Kowalski, wanna go grab a bite?" Finn asked his partner.

"Yeah, why not," Stacy Kowalski logged out of her workstation and stood up.

* * *

**Vancouver, Canada, November 24, 2013**

"Stop fidgeting!" Victoria Chase commanded the slightly taller bluenette, who stood next to her in a black tuxedo, quite obviously out of her comfort zone wearing the attire.

"I'm really beginning to have second thoughts about asking you to be my best man," Chloe scowled back to the blonde who was dressed in a matching tuxedo. "The starch in this shirt is making me itch."

"Boohoo! Don't be such a crybaby," Victoria said sternly. "Just suck it up! This'll be over soon."

The two girls were standing at the altar of a small chapel at the outskirts of Vancouver. They were accompanied by a female minister and a cantor was sitting at the organs. Janice Smith was the only one sitting on the benches. She was wearing a simple aubergine dress.

"You have the ring?" Chloe asked her best man.

"Of course I have the ring!" Victoria said hurtfully. "Do you really think I would…" she stopped at mid-sentence, when she felt her pocket and her eyes opened wide, causing the punk's eyes open even wider.

"You forgot the ring! I can't believe-" Chloe stopped, when she saw the blonde grin and dig the ring out of her pocket. "Why you little…" the punk growled and punched the blonde's arm lightly.

"Oh, the look on your face was so totally worth it," Victoria chuckled.

"*Ahem*," Kate Marsh peeked crossly behind the opened door at the end of the aisle. "If you two are quite finished with whatever it is, we're ready here."

"Um, yes," Chloe said shyly. "Ok, fire it up!" she instructed the cantor.

The first notes of the Star Wars Theme by John Williams started playing as Kate pushed both doors open and walked slowly down the aisle, dressed in a peach colored dressed and holding a small bouquet of flowers. She walked to the altar and took her place opposite Chloe and Victoria.

As soon as the small blonde had taken her place, Chloe turned her look at the door and her eyes grew even wider at the sight in the doorway. Max stood there in a simple, strapless pearl white dress. Her hair was combed nicely back on a single chignon, leaving her bangs to cover her forehead. A choker necklace with a doe pendant adorned her neck and she was holding a bouquet of blue orchids. An overwhelming joy filled Chloe as she watched her bride walk down the aisle. She stepped down from the altar to meet Max halfway. The punk stopped at one third of the aisle and their eyes met.

"You look amazing, babe," Chloe said as she extended her arm.

"You're not so bad either," Max smiled as she took slipped her own arm into the pit of her fiancée's elbow.

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

The two walked slowly towards the altar, where the minister was waiting for them with Kate and Victoria. They stopped in front of them and shared a final smile as an unmarried couple.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here…"

* * *

"Okay, say 'just married'!" Victoria said as she aimed her camera towards the newlyweds. They were standing at a vantage point outside of Vancouver, where the skyline of the city gave a picturesque background. The late November weather in Vancouver wasn't exactly warm at low forties, so everyone was wearing outdoor clothing. Max had a white cashmere wool coat and Chloe had her navy style dark grey wool coat that she had bought from the drift store. A matching color beanie covered the blue hair.

"Can you take one more with my phone?" Max asked. "I probably need to let the cat out of the bag to my folks."

"No need," Victoria said. "I'll just transfer one from my camera with Bluetooth..." She tapped the camera screen a few times. "...aaand done!" Max's phone buzzed as a sign of received file.

"Show-off!" Max snorted.

"Oh, surely your parents deserve a coming out picture taken with a quality DSLR rather than one taken with a crappy Android phone," the blonde grinned.

"Um, it's not an Android phone," the brunette pointed out. "I'm using a Nokia 808 PureView. It's a Symbian phone."

"You're so stuck in the retro zone. Sadface."

"Oh, kiss my belfie!" Max shot back, chuckling.

"Will you two cut it out?" Chloe cut in. "Kate and Janice are waiting us at the restaurant."

* * *

"To Max and Chloe!" Kate marsh raised her glass of sparkling wine.

"To Max and Chloe!" Victoria and Janice joined the toast.

Everyone at the table took a sip of the alcohol free sparkling wine. The choice of beverage was partly a practical solution as they were all under 21 but also a consideration towards Max's decision to stay sober until she had finished her therapy.

"Before we start to eat I thought it would be appropriate to give our wedding presents to you," Kate said. "We couldn't come up with a shared present, so we decided to give each of you your own. I give the floor to Victoria, who did the hard work of hunting and acquiring them."

"Thank you, Kate." Victoria stood up. "Max, since you are so hell bent for going analogue in your photography, you might as well do it with proper equipment," she said, putting a camera bag on the table and passing it to the brunette.

Max opened the bag and gasped in awe, when she saw the contents. Inside, there was an Asahi Pentax K1000 SLR camera body, accompanied by a selection of different lenses and a separate flash unit. The camera was in immaculate condition.

"It's one of the early ones, manufactured in Japan," Victoria explained. "I found it from an online vintage camera shop."

Max took the camera in her hands. She was no stranger to the simple but sturdy workhorse of photography that had stayed in production over twenty years from mid-70's to late 90's. It was completely mechanical, save for the light meter that was operated by one LR44 button cell.

"Thank you, guys!" Max said humbly. "I am so overwhelmed by this."

"You deserve the best, even though it's completely outdated," Victoria said with a warm smile.

The brunette stood up and gave all the three girls a hug.

"Chloe," Victoria continued, when Max had returned to her seat. "For you we had bit of a hard time figuring out what would be the perfect present. Luckily, Max gave a hint that you were a big fan of the Transformers Unicron Trilogy as a kid and apparently had a respectable collection of figures back then." The blonde could see the punk blushing slightly and casting a semi-serious scowl towards her wife.

"This took some effort to find but we were lucky enough to find one in good condition." Victoria lifted a large cardboard box on the table. It was a Transformers figure but not any of the Armada, Energon or Cybertron series. It was a Generation One Fortress Maximus. With its 22 inches, it was the largest Transformers toy built to date. It wasn't the Japanese re-release from this year but an original, American release from 1987, even though you couldn't tell that based on the condition of the box, as it looked like it had just been picked off the shelf of a toy store.

"We thought that Maximus might keep you company, in case Max isn't around," Kate said with an impish grin.

"Very pun-ny," Chloe snorted and looked at the Majestic figure in its box. "You know, I've read about Fortress Maximus but this is actually the first time I see one live, and I could've never dreamed that I'd actually own one. Makes me wish I still had my old collection left but I sold the whole lot on eBay a few years back and used the money on self-medication." The punk closed her eyes and let out a sigh before opening them again. "Thank you, I really appreciate this." She stood up and shared a hug with the three girls. "And you, wife dearest," she cast a mischievous glance at Max. "One day, when you least expect it, I'm gonna disclose some embarrassing secret about your past to the company present."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, honey," Max grinned back.

"With that out of the way, let's eat," Kate announced.

* * *

Max and Chloe were standing in front of the honeymoon suite door. After dinner, the cutting of the cake, the dance and the throwing of the bouquet, which Kate by the way had caught, they had wished good night to Kate, Victoria and Janice and excused themselves. Chloe swiped the keycard on the lock and pushed the door open. She took the petite brunette on her arms and smiled to her.

"Are you ready, Mrs. Price?"

"I most certainly am, Mrs. Price."

Chloe carried Max over the threshold and straight into the master bedroom, where she carefully laid her on the bed and immediately climbed on top of her to give her a kiss.

"I love you, Max," Chloe said, once their lips parted.

"I love you too, Chloe," Max replied. "Have you got something planned?"

"Oh yes," Chloe grinned mischievously. "Get you and myself out of these clothes and not get out of this bed until very late tomorrow."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Max extended her stocking shrouded leg.

* * *

**Kent, WA, August 16, 2014**

Kent, a city located in King County, 19 miles south of Seattle, once a thriving agricultural area, was now a home to hundreds of companies. Kent, especially the North Kent industrial area was also known for the illegal street races in spring, summer and fall weekend nights. Despite the efforts by the local law enforcement to weed it out, the racers kept returning.

The streets were filled with tuned import cars and good old American muscle. Music played loud on the extravagant audio systems built into some of these cars and people roamed around the parked cars in the parking lot.

Damien Evans, an African-American in his early thirties was standing next to his black Chrysler 300C and watching all that was happening around him. In five years, he had managed to become the sole organizer of illegal street races in Kent. Not a single start occurred without him being aware of it and getting his cut out of the pot. With the help of his assistants, Damien made sure that all the racers were well-matched. Damien was also the one who decided whether someone was eligible to enter or not. Usually being eligible meant an established reputation or a reference from a well-established racer.

Damien was counting the entry fees for tonight's races, when Jerome Clark, his right-hand man came to him.

"Yo, Damien, there's some chick, who wants to race in one of tonight's starts," Jerome said. "She says BD can vouch for her."

"BD?" Damien repeated. "Haven't seen BD for a while." Even before Damien had begun to take over the illegal racing in Kent, BD had been somewhat of a legend among the racers. He'd practically dominated the races until a couple of years back, when he had unexpectedly retired.

"She's driving one of BD's old cars," Jerome added.

"Take me to her," Damien said.

Damien followed Jerome to the other end of the parking lot. There was a white Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R parked under a streetlight. The Skyline seemed pretty stock from the outside but that could simply mean that the car was a sleeper. A tall but slim woman dressed in leather jacket, jeans and boots was leaning against the side of the car with her arms crossed. Wisps of blue hair were peeking out under a dark blue beanie. When they got closer to her, she straightened up and stuck her index finger between her upper lip and gum to remove a small white pouch, which she discarded into a small compartment on a lid of a small tin. Damien recognized it to be Swedish snus, which some of the racers seemed to use.

"Jerome here says you wanna race," Damien said to the woman.

"Let's talk bidness," Chloe Price smirked.

* * *

**Seattle, WA, August 20, 2014**

Max sat on a sofa in a small lobby at the end of a corridor. It was spartanly but stylishly furnished. A print of a Degas painting was hanging on the wall. Max was going into her first therapy session. The psychiatrist was one of the most respected in Seattle and he had been recommended to her by Victoria's parents, when she had held her exhibition at the Space Chase earlier during the summer. Apparently he was a close friend to the Chase family. His brother had hosted a radio show at the local radio station but that was before the Caulfield's had moved to Seattle.

Max could hear how the psychiatrist was having a conversation on the phone through the door.

"… _Yes, I remember your mother is coming over for dinner on Sunday… …She's bringing your brother with her? …Make sure that there's enough beer in the refrigerator for him. I don't want him pillaging my collection of vintage sherry… …Tell our son daddy says hi for me, will you? …Bye bye, honeybun!"_

The call ended and Max could hear steps coming towards the door. It opened and a man in his late fifties stood in the doorway. He was only slightly taller than the brunette and his hair had thinned from the top.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said in a slightly high-pitched voice. "You must be Ms. Caulfield." He gave his hand. "I'm a great admirer of your work."

"Actually, it's Mrs. Price," Max said, shaking the offered hand. "Max Caulfield is more of a professional name nowadays. Maxine Price is what I use as a private person." She was slowly getting accustomed to using her actual first name on daily basis after adopting it on her wedding day. 'Max Price' would've just sounded like a cheap slogan from a game show. Her family and friends still called her Max, of course.

"Annabeth and Derek told me, last time we saw, that you might make an appointment," the psychiatrist said. "Since I understood that you're a student and the Chases are close friends of mine, I won't charge my usual fee. I used to be a student once, so I know that money can be tight."

"Thank you, I appreciate that," the brunette said as she followed him into his office.

The Spartan but stylish furnishing continued in the office. There was a desk, a bookshelf plus a file cabinet at one side of the room and a small table with two armchairs at the other side. The wall in the office was adorned by a real Degas painting and several university diplomas. The psychiatrist showed her the other chair while he sat on the other. A small digital recorder was on the table.

"Is it all right that I record our conversations?" he asked. "Everything we discuss here, will remain confidential, of course."

"It's all right," Max said as she sat down.

"So, what would you like talk about?"

Max closed her eyes momentarily and smiled shortly. "Do you believe in the butterfly effect…?"

**THE END**


End file.
